#5/4 Vols Rally From 16 Down to Beat Vanderbilt, 81-76

Game Recap: Men’s Basketball | February 15, 2025

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team defeated Vanderbilt, 81-76, Saturday afternoon at a sold-out Food City Center, storming back from a 16-point deficit in the last minute of the opening half and a 13-point margin at the break.

Senior guard Zakai Zeigler, who entered the top five on the SEC’s career assists leaderboard in the victory, had a season-high 22 points, all in the second half, and a game-best eight assists for No. 5/4 Tennessee (21-5, 8-5 SEC) at a sold-out Food City Center.

Vanderbilt (17-8, 5-7 SEC) scored the opening six points in the first 55 seconds and, behind a 7-of-9 field-goal ledger that included making all three of its 3-point attempts, built an 18-11 advantage through five minutes. It pushed the mark to 11-of-19 overall, with a 5-of-8 long-range mark, and went on an 8-0 run in 75 seconds to take a 13-point edge, 30-17, with 8:26 on the first-half timer.

The Commodores extended their margin to a game-high 16 points, 38-22, with 14:24 left in the half. It remained 16 with under one minute to go in the stanza, before the Volunteers scored five of the final seven points to make it 44-31 at the intermission.

Tennessee shot 46.2 percent (12-of-26) from the floor, with a 40.0 percent (4-of-10) count beyond the arc, through 20 minutes, but conceded 54.8 percent (17-of-31) and 50.0 percent (6-of-12) respective figures at the other end. The home team also got outscored, 7-0, in second-chance points.

The Volunteers twice cut the deficit to nine in the first four minutes of the second half, but both times Vanderbilt junior Tyler Nickel answered with a 3-pointer. Following the second one, though, Tennessee went on a 9-0 run in 3:16 to get the lead down to three, 50-47, with 12:30 to go. After Vanderbilt snapped a scoreless drought of 4:04, Zeigler drilled a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game, 52-50, with 11:39 left and push the run to 12-2 in 4:10.

Shortly thereafter, Zeigler hit another 3-pointer to level the score at 55 with 9:41 remaining. Tennessee then took its first lead, 57-55 with 8:57 to go, on a layup by fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier to cap a 7-0 run in 1:33.

Vanderbilt regained the edge, 59-58, with 7:07 to play, but Tennessee scored nine of the next 13 points to go up by four, 67-63, on a Lanier 3-pointer 2:08 later. Vanderbilt evened the score at 67 with 3:55 to play and went in front, 70-69, on a 3-pointer by junior Jason Edwards with 3:10 on the clock.

Zeigler hit two free throws 13 ticks later to put Tennessee back ahead and then, after a defensive stop, hit Jahmai Mashack for a corner 3-pointer that made it 74-70 with 2:27 left. Fellow senior guard Jordan Gainey gave the Volunteers a game-best six-point advantage on a layup just 59 seconds after that, but Edwards responded with a 3-pointer at the other end, slicing the margin to 76-73 with 1:20 to go.

Zeigler then put up two points from the line, but Edwards connected on another 3-pointer to make it 78-76 with 45 ticks remaining. Zeigler once again responded, this time with a layup to double the lead with 19 seconds to play. The Volunteers got a stop at the other end and Lanier added a free throw with 7.6 ticks on timer to seal the win.

Tennessee went 7-of-7 from the field and 7-of-10 at the line over the final seven minutes, with Zeigler posting 3-of-3 and 4-of-4 respective tallies of his own. In total, the Long Island, N.Y., native shot 7-of-9 from the floor, 3-of-4 beyond the arc and 5-of-6 at the stripe in the second half to become the first Volunteer with 20-plus points after the break since Dalton Knecht on March 9, 2024.

Lanier finished with 21 points, his 10th time reaching that number in 2024-25, on 9-of-16 shooting and pulled down a season-high eight rebounds. Senior forward Igor Miličić Jr., added 10 points in the victory, while Mashack had nine on 3-of-4 shooting to go along with six rebounds.

Edwards led all scorers with 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including a 6-of-10 ledger from beyond the arc to give him the most made 3-pointers by a Tennessee foe this season. Sophomore Jaylen Carey had 18 points and a team-best seven rebounds. He shot 5-of-6 from the floor, making his lone 3-pointer, and 7-of-9 from the line before fouling out. Nickel and graduate Chris Mañon each had nine points, the latter notching all his before the break.

Tennessee’s victory marked its first time winning after trailing by 15-plus since March 3, 2020, when it defeated sixth-ranked Kentucky, 81-73, in Lexington, Ky., after facing a 17-point first-half deficit. That was also the last time the Volunteers won after trailing by double digits at the break, as it rallied back from an 11-point margin through 20 minutes.

The two sides combined for just 11 turnovers in the contest, with Tennessee committing just five and forcing six. The victors, who had 17 assists, shot 65.4 percent (17-of-26) in the second half to conclude the afternoon with a 55.8 percent (29-of-52) ledger.

The Volunteers have a midweek bye before returning to action Feb. 22 at No. 8/9 Texas A&M, live on ESPN at noon ET from Reed Arena in Bryan-College Station, Texas.

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
• The Volunteers, who registered their 19th sellout in the last three years (2022-25) and sixth of 2024-25, are now 36-15 all-time in Food City Center sellouts, including 35-13 since the 2007-08 capacity reduction and 25-7 in head coach Rick Barnes‘ 10-year tenure.
• Tennessee improved to 94-34 all-time when playing in front of 20,000-plus fans at Food City Center, including 35-10 under Barnes, with 30 of the latter 45 over the past four seasons (2021-25).
• Saturday’s crowd of 21,678 marked the 10th time in 2024-25, all in the Volunteers’ past 11 outings, over 19,000 fans have been in attendance at Food City Center.
• The Volunteers improved to 132-77 all-time against Vanderbilt, with the 132 wins their most over any opponent, 32 greater than its count versus Georgia (100).
• Since Food City Center opened in 1987-88, Tennessee is 29-9 at home against the Commodores, including 16-4 in the last 20 affairs.
• The Volunteers now possess eight straight home wins over Vanderbilt, by an average of 12.4 points per game.
• Tennessee is now 14-2 in its last 16 matchups versus the Commodores—dating to Jan. 9, 2018—with the only two setbacks on the road by one point.
• Ranked Tennessee teams now own a 24-9 all-time record versus unranked Vanderbilt squads, including a 16-3 tally—all three losses are by a single point—since Feb. 3, 2001.
• Saturday marked the 14th time in the last 16 series meetings—since Jan. 9, 2018—Tennessee was ranked for its matchup with Vanderbilt and the Commodores were not, including the ninth time in that stretch—sixth in a row—the Volunteers were in the top 10.
• Barnes moved to 16-5 against the Commodores during his tenure with the Volunteers, including 15-3 after his first year (2015-16).
• Mark Byington is the fourth different Vanderbilt head coach whom Barnes has defeated during his 10 seasons (2015-25) at Tennessee.
• Barnes has led Tennessee to a 35-7 (.833) record against in-state competition during his tenure, including a 18-2 (.900) ledger over the last 20 such games.
• Over the past eight seasons (2017-25), all under Barnes, Tennessee is now 28-9 (.757) in the second leg of regular season home-and-home series.
• Saturday’s contest ended Tennessee’s streak of eight consecutive SEC home games against AP top-25 foes, a mark that included the final two such contests of 2023-24 and the first six of 2024-25.
• The Commodores, whose 44 first-half points marked the most by a Tennessee foe this year, scored 36-plus points in the opening half of both outings against the Volunteers this season—they had 41 in a Jan. 18 home game—while every other Tennessee opponent has done so just once total (40 by Middle Tennessee State on Dec. 23, 2024).
• Tennessee entered the second-half bonus with 12:55 remaining in the contest and Vanderbilt did so with 8:45 to go.
• The last time the Volunteers shot over 65.0 percent from the floor in a half was one week ago, Feb. 8, when it posted an 18-of-26 (69.2 percent) clip before the break at Oklahoma.
• Tennessee’s last victory in which it trailed by 15-plus was March 3, 2020, at sixth-ranked Kentucky, when it came back from down 17, 48-31, early in the second half to win by eight, 81-73.
• That road matchup with the Wildcats was also the Volunteers’ last triumph after facing a double-digit deficit at halftime, as they were down 11, 42-31, at the break.
• Edwards’ six 3-pointers passed the seven by Austin Peay’s Isaac Haney on Nov. 17, 2024, for the most by a Tennessee opponent this year.
• Prior to Edwards, the last player to make six-plus 3-pointers in a game against Tennessee was Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard, who hit seven on March 9, 2024.
• Before Zeigler, the last Volunteer with 20-plus points in a half was Nov. 22, 2024, when Chaz Lanier had 25 in the first session against Baylor in Nassau, Bahamas, while the last time a Tennessee player did so in the second half was March 9, 2024, when Dalton Knecht scored 21 versus Kentucky.
• The seven made field goals for Zeigler matched a season high he has recorded thrice previously, including in the team’s most recent outing, Feb. 11 at Kentucky.
• Zeigler’s 22 points surpassed the 21 he scored in the last home game—Feb. 5 against Missouri—for his top total in 2024-25.
• Zeigler’s assist with 17:26 left in the game, his sixth of the day, moving him past Georgia/Kentucky’s Sahvir Wheeler (656 from 2019-23) for fifth place in SEC history and he added two more to up his career total to 659, five shy of fourth place.
• That same sixth assist pushed Zeigler past Tyrone Beamen (184 in 1982-83) for sixth place on the Volunteers’ single-season leaderboard and his next two extended his 2024-25 mark to 187, five back of fifth place.
• Zeigler and Mashack are now the seventh and eighth players to win 100 games as Volunteers, joining John Fulkerson (135), Cameron Tatum (118), Josiah-Jordan James (114), Santiago Vescovi (106), Quinn Cannington (104) and Wayne Chism (104), with the latter two the only other four-year players on the list.
• Saturday marked the seventh time Mashack has made multiple 3-pointers in a game, including the third in 2024-25.
• Lanier recorded the 25th 20-point performance of his career, including his 10th in 26 appearances as a Volunteer.
• Lanier’s eight rebounds surpassed the seven he notched both Dec. 17, 2024, against Western Carolina and Jan. 7 at Florida for his new season high.