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Game Recap: Men’s Basketball | December 31, 2024

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball wrapped up the calendar year by defeating Norfolk State, 67-52, Tuesday afternoon at Food City Center.

Top-ranked Tennessee (13-0) led from start to finish behind a game-high 24 points from fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier, sealing an unblemished non-conference record for the fifth time since joining the SEC (1932-33).

The Volunteers started 7-of-10 from the floor, including 4-of-7 beyond the arc, and made five straight field goals to take an 18-10 lead at 13:11 mark. At that time, Lanier personally had 11 points on a 4-of-5 clip.

Another 3-pointer by Lanier as part of a 7-0 run helped Tennessee go ahead by 13, 25-12, with 9:34 left in the frame. Norfolk State (9-7) went on to cut the deficit to nine on four occasions before the break and followed the final one with a buzzer-beating jump-shot to make it a seven-point game, 35-28, at halftime.

Tennessee scored 13 of the first 19 points after the break to build a then-game-best 14-point advantage, 48-34, with 14:17 to go. The Spartans closed the margin to 10, 52-42, with 9:52 remaining, but never got it down to single digits.

The Volunteers held Norfolk State scoreless for 6:17 as they pushed their lead to 17 points, 63-46, with 2:54 remaining. They stretched it to a game-high 20, 66-46, just 24 seconds later and ultimately claimed a 15-point decision.

Lanier’s two-dozen points came on an 8-of-18 clip, including a 6-of-16 mark from beyond the arc, with the six attempts one shy of his career best and the 16 attempts a career high and the co-fourth-most in Tennessee history. He added two rebounds, two assists, two steals and his first block of the year.

Sophomore forward Cade Phillips registered 10 points and a career-high five blocks, the latter the top total by a Volunteer in 2024-25. He went 3-of-5 from the field and 4-of-5 at the line.

Jordan Gainey scored 10 points, as did fellow senior guard Zakai Zeigler, who added a game-best six assists to move into a tie for second place on the program’s all-time career leaderboard with 577. Senior forward Igor Miličić Jr., paced all players with 10 rebounds in the triumph.

Christian Ings posted 19 points and four assists to lead Norfolk State in each category, while fellow graduate student guard Brian Moore Jr., added 18 points to go along with five rebounds.

Tennessee, which amassed seven steals and eight blocks, held the Spartans to 22-of-59 (37.3 percent) shooting, including a 5-of-21 clip down the stretch. The victors, who 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) at the stripe, had a 20-2 cushion in points off turnovers, forcing 13 and committing just six, along with a 20-2 tally in bench points.

With its perfect non-conference slate complete, Tennessee now begins SEC competition Saturday at 1 p.m. against No. 23/RV Arkansas, live on ESPN from Food City Center.

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
• Tuesday marked the 15th game in program history with Tennessee ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, as it improved to 13-2, including 12-1 in head coach Rick Barnes‘ tenure.
• The Volunteers also upped their record to 27-4 all-time while ranked top-three in the AP Poll, including 23-2 under Barnes.
• Tennessee remained one of the only four undefeated teams in the country and the lone school unbeaten in both men’s and women’s basketball.
• The Volunteers are now 5-3 all-time on New Year’s Eve, including 4-1 at home and 1-0 in Barnes’ tenure, with this the first such instance since 2014.
• Barnes improved to 9-0 in his career against the current MEAC membership, including 2-0 with the Volunteers.
• Tennessee is now 2-0 against Norfolk State during the 2024 calendar year—it posted an 87-50 home victory Jan. 2—after never previously facing the Spartans.
• The Volunteers moved to 13-0 to begin a season for the second time in program history, alongside a 14-0 start in 1922-23.
• Tennessee now has its fifth winning streak of at least 13 games program history, joining a 19-game span in 2018-19, a 15-game stretch from 19114-15 to 1916-17, a 14-game tally in 1922-23 and a 13-game ledger from 1913-14 to 1914-15.
• The dates of other two single-season winning streaks of at least 13 games for Tennessee are as follows: 19 from Nov. 28, 2018, to Feb. 13, 2019, and 14 from Jan. 8- Feb. 20, 2023.
• Tennessee is the 12th team in SEC history to win 13-plus regular season non-conference games without a loss, including the third in 2024-25, joining 2024-25 Florida (13-0), 2024-25 Oklahoma (13-0), 2023-24 Ole Miss (13-0), 2019-20 Auburn (13-0), 2015-16 South Carolina (13-0), 2014-15 Kentucky (13-0), 2009-10 Kentucky (15-0), 2007-08 Vanderbilt (15-0), 2007-08 Ole Miss (14-0), 2005-06 Florida (14-0) and 1999-2000 LSU (13-0).
• This is the fifth time, including the second with nine-plus games, in the SEC era (since 1932-33) the Volunteers have posted an undefeated record in regular season non-conference play, alongside 2020-21 (6-0), 1997-98 (11-0), 1980-81 (8-0) and 1956-57 (8-0), while the program also finished a perfect 12-0 in 1915-16 before the creation of the SEC.
• Tennessee has now finished undefeated in non-conference home games in five consecutive seasons, running its winning streak in such contests to 36 in a row dating to the 2020-21 opener against Colorado, a 56-47 triumph on Dec. 8 2020.
• Over the last 13 full months, from Dec. 2023 through Dec. 2024, Tennessee owns a 35-6 record, with four of the defeats by six points or fewer.
• Tuesday marked the fifth time in 2024-25 the Volunteers never trailed, including the third time they led from start to finish.
• The Volunteers have held a halftime advantage in 12 of their 13 outings this season, including a margin of seven-plus points 10 times, double digits eight times, 12-plus six times, 14-plus five times and 23-plus thrice.
• Tennessee has conceded 35 or fewer first-half points in 12 of its 13 outings thus far, including 29 or fewer on eight occasions and 21 or fewer fur times.
• The Volunteers held a lead of 18-plus points in 12 of its 13 contests this season, including by 26 in all but four, and still has not faced a deficit larger than eight.
• Across its 13-game non-conference slate, Tennessee led for 452:24 and trailed for just 43:39 of a possible 520 minutes.
• Twelve of Tennessee’s 13 wins thus far are by 13-plus points, with seven by at least 22, four by at least 35 and two by 40-plus.
• The Volunteers concluded non-conference play without an opposing player posting five-plus assists in a game, as Ings’ four for the Spartans matched five others for the most thus far by a Tennessee foe.
• Phillips, who finished with five blocks, tallied four in the first 18 minutes alone, already doubling his prior career high for a full game, as he notched two both Nov. 27, 2024, against UT Martin and Dec. 3, 2024, versus Syracuse.
• The five blocks by Phillips marked the highest single-game total by a Volunteer this year, surpassing the four by Felix Okpara on Nov. 27 against UT Martin,
• Lanier logged 20-plus points for the 21st time as a collegian, including the sixth in 13 outings as a Volunteer.
• The 16 3-point attempts by Lanier eclipsed the career high of 15 he set on Dec. 19, 2023, at Florida State while with North Florida, as well as passed Dalton Knecht’s 15 on March 9, 2024, against Kentucky for the most by a Tennessee player in Barnes’ tenure.
•Lanier’s 16 3-point attempts tied Chris Lofton’s mark on Dec. 23, 2006, in an overtime game against Texas, then coached by Barnes, for the fourth-most in a single game in Tennessee history.
• Gainey now has double-digit points in eight of the first 13 games this season after reaching that mark 10 total times in 2023-24 across 36 outings.
• Miličić pulled down double-digit rebounds for the 20th time in his career, including the sixth in 13 games at Tennessee.
• Zeigler upped his career point total from 1,194 to 1,204, moving from No. 44 up to No. 39 on the program’s all-time leaderboard, while also becoming the 41st Volunteer to reach the 1,200 mark.
• The six assists by Zeigler increased his career mark to 577, moving him into a tie with C.J. Watson (2002-06) for the second-most in Tennessee history.
• Zeigler played 38:22 in the win, the highest total by a Volunteer this season, one second greater than the mark he set Nov. 22 against Baylor in Nassau, Bahamas.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team is ranked atop the nation’s major polls for the fourth consecutive week.

Tennessee (12-0) is once again listed first in both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, as released Monday afternoon.

This is the ninth time, across three campaigns, the Volunteers come in at first overall in AP Poll. They previously held the top position once in 2007-08 and four times in 2018-19.

Nine of Tennessee’s 11 all-time weeks in the AP top three, including eight of its nine first-place positionings, are during head coach Rick Barnes‘ 10 years on Rocky Top. One of just seven teams to claim the top spot in the AP Poll in more than one of the last seven seasons, the Volunteers are 26-4 all-time while holding an AP top three spot (22-2 in the Barnes era), including 12-2 at first nationally (11-1 in the Barnes era).

This is the 68th consecutive week Tennessee is listed in the AP Poll, a streak spanning four campaigns and dating to the 2021-22 preseason release. The ledger is 31 weeks above the program’s prior top mark and is the third-longest active streak in the country, trailing only Houston (94) and Kansas (73). No other schools are at even 50-plus, while the next closest SEC team, Kentucky (30), ranks eighth in streak length and is 38 behind the Volunteers.

Tennessee is among the AP top 15 for the 42nd time in the last 45 releases, dating to Nov. 28, 2022. This is the 64th AP top-10 spot for the Volunteers under Barnes, including its 32nd top-five placement, with the latter mark nearly double the program’s entire total (17) before his 2015 hire. Tennessee also now has over four times as many top-two rankings under Barnes (nine) as it had before his arrival (two).

Barnes has led the Volunteers to an AP top-five spot in each of the last four years, a streak only Kansas can match. He has also steered Tennessee to an AP top-six position in each of the past five years, a ledger equaled by just Alabama, Houston and Kansas.

Tennessee defeated Middle Tennessee State, 82-64, last Monday night in its lone game of the week. Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier paced the team with 23 points, while senior guard Zakai Zeigler had 17 points and a career-high 15 assists.

With one ballot missing from in the AP voting, the Volunteers earned 1,504 of a possible 1,525 points and received 41 of the 61 first-place nods. In the Coaches Poll, they replicated their numbers from last week, compiling 764 of a possible 775 points, including 20 of the 31 first-place nods.

The Volunteers head a batch of 10 SEC teams in the top 25 of each poll, nine of which are ranked in both. They are featured alongside second-ranked Auburn, No. 5/6 Alabama, No. 6/5 Florida, No. 10/11 Kentucky, No. 12/10 Oklahoma, No. 13/12 Texas A&M, No. 17/16 Mississippi State and No. 24/23 Ole Miss in both polls, while Arkansas in No. 23 in the AP Poll and receiving votes in the Coaches Poll. Additionally, Georgia and Missouri are included in the receiving votes section from both outlets.

Still one of four remaining unbeaten teams nationally, the Volunteers remain second in the NCAA NET rankings and third on KenPom’s list.

Tennessee continues competition Tuesday at 3 p.m. when it hosts Norfolk State at Food City Center in its non-conference finale, 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.