Chaz Lanier, Jordan Gainey shoot No. 6 Tennessee to huge road win at No. 7 Texas A&M

Chaz Lanier hit a career-high eight 3-pointers and No. 6 Tennessee needed every single one of them — and timely ones from Jordan Gainey and Zakai Zeigler, too — to pick up an important 77-69 road win at No. 7 Texas A&M Saturday afternoon at Reed Arena in College Station.

Lanier scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half and Gainey scored eight of his 12 in the second half to lead Tennessee (22-5, 9-5 SEC), with Lanier going 8-for-13 from the 3-point line and Gainey going 2-for-5.

Zeigler had 16 points and seven assists and saved his best for the final 62 seconds, blocking a Wade Taylor IV 3-point attempt with 1:02 to go, Tennessee clinging to a 72-69 lead, then hit a corner three with 21 seconds left in the game and four seconds on the shot clock to put the Vols up six.

Lanier hit his eighth three of the game with 4:19 left and Gainey followed with another at the 3:33 mark to put Tennessee up 63-59. Gainey hit another three with 2:28 left to get the lead to six points and hit two free throws with a minute left to make it a 70-65 lead.

Taylor led No. 7 Texas A&M (20-7, 9-5) with 18 points, scoring 10 at the foul line while going 4-for-15 from the field. Andersson Garcia had 14 points and six rebounds and Zurich Phelps had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Lanier made his first shot of the second half with 7:56 left, tying the game on a deep three. Jahmai Mashack put Tennessee back ahead with a second-chance tip-in with 6:56 to go.

Both teams started slow after halftime. A&M started the second half on an 8-2 run and scored 11 of the first 15 points after the break to turn a four-point halftime deficit into a 43-40 lead with 14:26 left. 

It was a possession game over the next six minutes, with Tennessee at one point making one of 11 shots from the field, followed by A&M taking one of 10. 

Chaz Lanier in the first half: 22 points, 8-10 FG, 6-7 3FG

Tennessee trailed by as many as nine points in the first half, after committing five turnovers in the first seven minutes, 18 seconds. 

Then Lanier rescued and rallied the Vols to a 36-32 halftime lead after scoring his 22 points in the first half, going 8-for-10 from the field, including 6-for-7 from the 3-point line, while adding three rebounds in 16 minutes. 

Lanier led Tennessee to 48.0% shooting from the field in the first half. The numbers were even better at the 3-point line, thanks to Lanier’s flamethrower, with the Vols going 8-for-13 from three as a team, shooting 61.5%.

Texas A&M didn’t score over the final 3:11 of the first half, missing its final five shots of the half and six of its final seven over the last 5:11. The Vols made eight of their last 10 shots in the first half, turning a 22-15 deficit into the four-point lead lead at the break. 

Taylor had four points in the first half, going 1-for-7 from the field, 0-for-4 from three, but had seven assists. Garcia led A&M with 10 points in the first half.

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee at LSU, Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET

Tennessee is down to four regular-season games left on schedule. The Vols go back on the road at LSU (14-12, 3-10) on Tuesday for a 9 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: SEC Network) inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.

Tuesday’s game is the end of a run of four out of five games on the road for the Vols. They’re back home on March 1 to host No. 4 Alabama, go to No. 24 Ole Miss on March 5 and host South Carolina in the regular-season finale on March 8 on Senior Day at Food City Center. 

KenPom.com‘s projections currently give Tennessee an 81% chance to win at LSU, with a projected scored of 71-61, a 71% chance to beat Alabama (80-74), a 59% chance to win at Ole Miss (68-65) and a 94% chance to beat South Carolina (71-54).