'He's got to keep playing aggressive': Tennessee wants more shots from Chaz Lanier

Tennessee took what Texas was doing defensively and flipped it in the closing minutes Saturday night in Austin. All the attention that was being paid to Chaz Lanier meant the court was opening up in other areas, so the Vols took advantage.

“We kind of just went and used what they were doing against them,” Tennessee assistant coach Lucas Campbell said on before practice Tuesday morning. 

Instead of Lanier hitting shots late to rally the Vols to the 74-70 win, it was Zakai Zeigler driving and finishing at the rim or Darlinstone Dubar and Jordan Gainey hitting game-changing 3-pointers.

“If they want to not let (Lanier) have a shot,” Campbell said, “then they can’t be in the gap once Zakai starts to drive. So we went to kind of a dribble drive.”

Lanier is the SEC’s leading scorer, averaging 19.0 points on 42.9% shooting from the field and 43.7% from the 3-point line in 29.9 minutes per game, but his production slowed down last week with 10 points at both Florida and Texas.

After going 3-for-16 from the field, including 1-for-9 from three, in the loss against the Gators, Lanier took just 11 shots from the field at Texas, his fewest since November 17.

“Teams are starting to get up on him,” Campbell said. “They won’t let him come off of screens.” 

Up Next: No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 23 Georgia, Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET

But that’s no excuse. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes sat Lanier down after the first possession of the second half at Texas after Lanier turned down a shot — the play was designed to get Lanier an open look, which he turned down — and instead turned the ball over. 

“And I told him,” Barnes said after the game, “I said, if you’re not going to do what you’re getting paid to do, you sit over here. Because he is getting paid to do that.”

The same message applies when Lanier and No. 6 Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC) host No. 23 Georgia (14-2, 2-1) on Wednesday (8 p.m. Eastern Time, SEC Network) at Food City Center. 

Lanier has to stay aggressive. 

“We’ve already added some stuff,” Campbell said. “Coach (Barnes) has been great about putting in stuff that will benefit us on that aspect and make it harder.”

Lanier not only leads Tennessee in field goal attempts with 247, he has almost 100 more than his closest teammate, with Zeigler at 153. He took a season high 23 shots against Virginia in November and has taken 15 or more shots in 12 of 16 games this season.

But Tennessee’s coaches still want to more as Lanier adjusts to the grind of the SEC schedule.

“He’s got to keep playing aggressive,” Campbell said, “he’s got to keep looking for them. I’m not too worried about it. He’ll get used to that physicality. It’s different non-league and then you get into league and people start to know your actions and stuff more.”

‘If you pass up opportunities (to shoot) now, they might not come back later in the game’

Another part of it, as Campbell explained it, is Lanier being humble to a fault. Tennessee’s star shooting guard doesn’t want to play too selfish.

“Sometimes he can think, ‘Oh, that’s not the best shot on his time or this action,’” Campbell said. “’We need to get it to somebody else. Somebody’s helping.’” 

Barnes has another thought, though. The same one he shared with a smile in Austin Saturday night. Shoot the basketball. He’s too good not to.

“Coach wants him to know that’s what you’re best at,” Campbell said. “What you do is you shoot the ball at an elite level, an NBA level. And so we want him to do that for us. And Coach is just trying to get across to him. 

“If you pass up opportunities now, they might not come back later in the game because teams don’t want you to get a shot. So you’ve got to take the ones that are there.”