Game Recap: Men’s Basketball | November 22, 2024
NASSAU, Bahamas – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team scored 16 of the first 18 points Friday night against No. 13/14 Baylor in the Baha Mar Championship final and never looked back, en route to a commanding 77-62 triumph.
No. 11/9 Tennessee (6-0) claimed its second trophy in the Bahamas in the last three years—it won the 2022 Battle 4 Atlantis—behind a game-high 25 points from fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier, all in the first half alone. His dazzling start helped the victors lead wire-to-wire, including by 20-plus for nearly 19 consecutive minutes, at the Baha Mar Convention Center.
The Volunteers immediately grabbed control of the game, grabbing a 16-2 advantage after just 3:53 of action behind a scintillating 5-of-5 long-range barrage from Lanier that included three straight makes in 74 seconds.
Tennessee upped its run to 16-2 over 5:42 to extend its edge all the way to 19, 23-4, with 11:40 on the first-half clock. Baylor (4-2) scored the next five points, but senior guard Jordan Gainey then drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a 20-point margin, 29-9, with 8:20 left in the frame, pushing the team’s 3-point ledger to 8-of-17. Lanier added a layup to make it an 8-0 run in 2:10 and push it to 31-9 with 7:34 on the ticker.
The Volunteers stretched the cushion as high as 28, 42-14, with 3:47 to go in the session after scoring nine straight points in 2:47 and holding the Bears without a point for 3:55. It marked Tennessee’s fifth run of 7-0 or better—two were 9-0 and another was 8-0—in the opening 20 minutes.
Baylor scored six of the next eight points, but Lanier closed the frame with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send Tennessee into the intermission with a 27-point lead, 47-20. He dropped 25 first-half points on 9-of-13 shooting, including an eye-popping 7-of-8 mark from 3-point range that already tied him for the fifth-most in a full game in program history.
Tenth-year head coach Rick Barnes‘ team shot 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) from deep in the first half and held Baylor to a 2-of-10 (20.0 percent) mark. It also had 13 assists and conceded just two, plus committed only four turnovers and forced nine.
Tennessee’s second-half lead did not drop below 21 until fewer than eight minutes remained, as Baylor cut it to 18, 66-48, with 7:38 to go. The Bears cut it to 17, 67-50, with 5:40 left, but Gainey hit his 3-pointer of the night just 36 seconds later to snap a drought of 8:58 without a field goal and push the margin back to 20.
The final differential of 15 points marked the lowest of the last 28-plus minutes in the thoroughly convincing decision. Tennessee led by at least a dozen points for the final 36 minutes of the contest, as its authority over the result was never seriously challenged.
Lanier took just three shots in the second half, including two on the same possession, as the Bears adjusted their defensive gameplan following his sensational opening half. The Nashville, Tenn., native, who had 17 points on 6-of-7 field-goal shooting in the first six minutes alone, chipped in four rebounds and two steals to his final line on his way to collecting Baha Mar Championship MVP plaudits.
Gainey registered 16 points, shooting 7-of-8 from the line and 3-of-6 on 3-pointers, with 10 of his points after the break. Sophomore forward Cade Phillips amassed 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 field-goal clip, adding a 3-of-4 ledger at the line, along with four rebounds and one block. Senior forward Igor Miličić Jr., scored 10 points, shooting 3-of-4 on field goals and 4-of-6 on free throws.
Jahmai Mashack pulled down a team-best six rebounds and garnered Baha Mar Championship All-Tournament Team designation for a two-game performance that featured tremendous defense. Fellow senior guard Zakai Zeigler had a season-best nine assists and a co-season-high three steals, with both numbers pacing all players.
Fifth-year forward Norchad Omier recorded 22 points on 8-of-10 field-goal shooting, including 17 on a perfect 6-of-6 clip in the second half, as well as pulled down a game-best 10 rebounds. Freshman guard V.J. Edgecombe, a Bahamas native, scored 20 points in the defeat, including 16 after the break. Only one other Bear had greater than four points, as fifth-year guard Jeremy Roach totaled eight on a 4-of-9 clip from the floor.
The Volunteers shot over 51.0 percent in both halves and finished the night with a 52.2 percent (24-of-46) tally, including a 44.4 percent (12-of-27) mark from 3-point range. At the other end, they limited Baylor to 27.3 percent (6-of-22) shooting from beyond the arc, plus accumulated a 30-7 margin in bench points. Barnes’ team also allowed zero fast-break points for the fourth time in six contests.
Tennessee returns home to wrap up the first month of the season with a Wednesday matinee, as it hosts UT Martin at 4 p.m. at Food City Center, live on SEC Network+.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES
• Barnes now possesses 181 victories over programs with a national championship, including 41 in his 10 years at Tennessee and three already—Louisville, Virginia and Baylor—this season.
• Barnes, who spent 17 years coaching in the Big 12, improved to 168-99 against the league’s current membership, including 31-9 versus Baylor and 10-8 at Tennessee.
• The Volunteers moved to 32-31 all-time against current Big 12 teams and, after their first-ever matchup versus Baylor, have now faced every program in the league at least once.
• Playing in the Baha Mar Championship for the first time, the Volunteers improved to 9-2 all-time in the Bahamas, now possessing six straight wins, with each of the first nine games coming in the prior 10 seasons at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
• The Volunteers are now 12-10 across nine multi-team events in Barnes’ 10 years, including 9-5 outside the continental United States and 7-1 in the Bahamas.
• This is Tennessee’s 15th non-home in-season tournament championship, joining the 2022 Battle 4 Atlantis, 2010 NIT Season Tip-Off, 2000 Rainbow Classic, 1988 McDonald’s Classic, 1980 Sugar Bowl Classic, 1978 Cable Car Classic , 1975 Sugar Bowl Classic, 1974 Big Sun Invitational, 1965 Gulf South Classic, 1963 Gulf South Classic, 1963 Virginia Tech Tournament, 1958 Midwestern Invitational, 1949 Corn Bowl and 1941 Sugar Bowl Classic.
• In total, Tennessee now possesses 35 in-season tournament crowns, as they won 20 of the 24 editions of the Volunteer Classic, which it hosted each year from 1966-67 to 1989-90.
• Tennessee has won their first six games of the season for the second time in the last five campaigns, joining 2020-21 (7-0).
• Dating to a Dec. 22, 2021, victory over sixth-ranked Arizona, the Volunteers are now 16-5 in their last 21 games versus AP top-15 teams, including 10-1 when the opponent is in the No. 10-15 range and 6-3 when playing at a neutral site.
• Friday marked Tennessee’s fourth win by 15-plus points over an AP top-15 team under Barnes, joining triumphs over No. 18 Kansas (80-61 on Jan. 30, 2021), at seventh-ranked Missouri (73-53 on Dec. 30, 2020) and versus seventh-ranked Kentucky (71-52 on March 2, 2019).
• The Volunteers played without both sophomore guard Cameron Carr (left thumb) and sophomore forward J.P. Estrella (left foot).
• Tennessee has held a lead of 26-points in each of its six contests this season and still has not faced a deficit larger than three.
• Through six games this year, the Volunteers have led for 228:13 and trailed for just 4:39 of a possible 240 minutes.
• All six of Tennessee’s wins are by 15-plus points, with three of them away from home over Power Five opponents.
• Lanier, who averaged 25.5 points per game in the event, earned Baha Mar Championship MVP recognition and Mashack collected All-Tournament Team status, with the duo joined by Omier, Roach and St. John’s’ R.J. Luis Jr.
• Tennessee scored its quickest opening basket of the season, as Lanier connected on a 3-pointer just nine seconds into the contest.
• Lanier’s 25 first-half points put him two shy of the record by a Volunteer in the Barnes era, a mark held by both Dalton Knecht (second half against Auburn on Feb. 28, 2024) and Kevin Punter Jr. (Jan. 23, 2016, against South Carolina).
• In the first half alone, Lanier recorded the 19th occurrence of a Volunteer making seven 3-pointers in a full game and he also personally outscored the Bears by five points in the frame.
• Just nine prior Tennessee players have made seven-plus 3-pointers in a game: Chris Lofton (seven times), Allan Houston (three times), Brandon Wharton (two times), Jordan McRae, Victor Bailey Jr., Lamonté Turner, JaJuan Smith, Vincent Yarbrough and Tony Harris.
• Lanier is the third Volunteer in the Barnes era to make seven 3-pointers in a single game, alongside Bailey (7-of-10 on Feb. 17, 2021, versus South Carolina) and Turner (7-of-11 Dec. 6, 2016, versus Presbyterian).
• A Volunteers has now scored 20-plus points in a half eight times and 25-plus thrice over the last two seasons, as Dalton Knecht achieved the feat on seven and two occasions, respectively, in 2023-24.
• Before Lanier, Knecht was the last Volunteer to score 25-plus points in back-to-back games doing so in Detroit in the final two games of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, as he had 26 versus Creighton (March 29, 2024) and 37 versus Purdue (March 31, 2024).
• Phillips scored in double figures for the second time as a collegian, with his prior such outing on Nov. 17, 2024, when he tallied 13 points versus Austin Peay.
• Gainey has recoded 15-plus points in three of the first six games of the 2024-25 season after hitting that mark five times in 2023-24, his first year at Tennessee.
