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Tennessee beats Wofford in NCAA Tournament first round as Chaz Lanier goes off
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Tennessee got 29 points from Chaz Lanier on Thursday to power a 77-62 win over 15-seed Wofford in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Lanier, a transfer in the offseason from North Florida, was outstanding all season long. He averaged 17 a game for the Vols and landed a spot on the All-SEC team. But he turned it up a notch in his March Madness debut. The 29 points were 1 off a season-high, and with 6 made triples, Lanier tied a program record for 3-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game.
Seven of the Vols’ first 17 points belonged to Lanier. At the half, he had 14 points on 12 shots and Tennessee had a 9-point lead. In the second half, Lanier caught fire from the field, making 6 of his 10 attempts and 3 of his 5 triples.
The Vols led by as many as 18 points in the second half. Wofford cut the lead to 8 with 13:33 to play and again to 9 with 8:19 to play. Triples from Jeremy Lorenz punctuated 6-0 and 5-0 runs, respectively. But in both instances, Tennessee had an answer.
Seventeen seconds after Lorenz’s first 3 went through the net, Lanier splashed a 3 of his own to push the lead back to double-digits.
After the Wofford 3 with 8:19 to go, Tennessee hit back with a mini 6-0 run of its own, punctuated by consecutive dunks for Felix Okpara.
The Vols kept the turnovers low (6) and limited Wofford to just 9 free throw attempts. The Terriers did have 11 offensive boards, but second-chance points were tough to come by.
Zakai Zeigler added 12 points to go along with 12 assists and 2 steals. Four different Tennessee players recorded multiple steals. Seven different Vols scored at least 5 points.
Tennessee (28-7) will face either 7-seed UCLA or 10-seed Utah State on Saturday.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
