Chaz Lanier named SEC Player of the Week after leading Tennessee to Baha Mar Championship
Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier on Monday was named the SEC Player of the Week after combining for 51 points on 13-for-22 shooting from the 3-point line in wins over Virginia and Baylor in the Baha Mar Championship in The Bahamas last week.
Lanier scored all of his 25 points in the first half against Baylor in the 77-62 Tennessee win Friday night in the Baha Mar title game. He went 5-for-5 from the 3-point line in the first four minutes of the game and finished the first half a blistering 7-for-8 from deep.
He scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half of the 64-42 win over Virginia Thursday night in the opening round of the four-team tournament at The Baha Mar resort in Nassau.
Tennessee vs. UT Martin, Wednesday, 4 p.m. ET, SEC Network+
Lanier is Tennessee’s leading scorer through six games, averaging 17.7 points per game while shooting 54.8% from the 3-point line on 42 attempts. He’s shooting 48.8% from the field in 27.7 minutes per game.
Lanier made a three just nine seconds into Friday night’s game against Baylor. He made another at the 18:46 mark, a third at 17:21 and a fourth at 16:51.
The fifth came with 16:07 left in the half and forced Baylor to take a second timeout as Tennessee’s lead ballooned to 16-2.
“Once you see one or two go in,” Lanier said after the game, “you got to know the next one’s going up for sure.”
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Chaz Lanier averaged 19.7 points per game at North Florida last season
Lanier, a Nashville native and North Florida transfer guard, has picked up right where he left last season. He averaged 19.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 33.4 minutes per game, shooting 51.0% from the field and 44.0% from the 3-point line before entering the NCAA Transfer Portal.
He picked his home-state school over BYU and Kentucky after his breakout season.
Lanier scored 18 points in his Tennessee debut against Gardner-Webb on November 4, then added 19 more in a win at Louisville on November 9. He had five points and went just 1-for-6 from the field against Austin Peay last Sunday, before going off in The Bahamas.
On Friday night he described the on-court transition from North Florida to Tennessee as “challenging.”
“Night in, night out in practice, Coach (Barnes) pushes me to be the best that I can be on defense,” Lanier said. “And that’s one of the reasons why I chose to come to Tennessee was to work on my defense. So yeah, big shout out to Coach. I love him so much for pushing me and getting me out of my comfort zone.”
