Tennessee Basketball transfer Chaz Lanier 'has no clue how good he is'
No one in college basketball last season scored more efficiently than Chaz Lanier, according to Synergy Basketball. Not only did explode onto the scene by averaging 19.7 points per game, he did so on just 16.3 possessions per game.
He averaged 1.20 points per possession while shooting 51.0% from the field and 44.0% from the 3-point line. He averaged 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists, too, in 33.4 minutes per game.
But that’s not the best news for Tennessee Basketball. According to assistant coach Rod Clark, Lanier is just getting started.
“Chaz is a really good player that has no clue how good he is,” Clark told reporters this week, “which is probably a good thing for us to try to kind of tap into the potential that he does have.”
Lanier was the headliner in Tennessee’s transfer portal class, leaving North Florida for the Vols alongside Hofstra wing Darlinstone Dubar, Charlotte forward Igor Milicic Jr. and Ohio State center Felix Okpara.
‘He’s a skilled basketball player that … really shoots the ball’
Lanier is a Nashville native who attended Ensworth School, landing at North Florida after a slow prep recruitment. He was one of the biggest names in the NCAA Transfer Portal when he picked Tennessee over Kentucky and BYU.
“I think that Chaz, he comes from a school that he had a really good coach and Coach (Matthew) Driscoll that helped him with his mind offensively,” Clark said. “Helped him play with him at a really good pace. And he understands offensive concepts pretty well. So he’s a skilled basketball player that obviously, as everybody knows, he really shoots the ball.”
Lanier’s North Florida career started playing behind older All-Conference teammates, leaving him to average no more than 4.7 points per game over his first three seasons, playing no more than 21.0 minutes per game.
Chaz Lanier last season: 19.7 points per game, 51.0% FG, 44.0% 3FG
Then, during his breakout senior season, he started 31 times in 32 games and averaged 33.4 minutes per game. His 51.0% from the field came on 420 attempts (12.7 per game) and his 44.0% from the 3-point line came on 241 attempts (7.3 per game).
What Tennessee is emphasizing moving forward is that Lanier is so much more than just a shooter.
Day after day, he keeps checking all the boxes.
“He has really good pace and feel in ball screens,” Clark said. “He’s a really, really good passer. Something that I could see on film, we saw, but you don’t know until you’re in the gym with him every day … he’s a really, really good player.”
