Rick Barnes explains why he isn't worried about Chaz Lanier's shooting slump
Coming home didn’t help Chaz Lanier break out of his shooting slump. Instead, it just made it that much more glaring.
Lanier missed his first eight shots of the game Wednesday night in No. 6 Tennessee’s game against No. 23 Georgia at Food City Center. He didn’t see one go down until the final minute of the first half, hitting a jumper with 55 seconds left before the break.
He finished with just five points in the 74-56 Tennessee win — his fewest points scored since November 17 — going 2-for-16 from the field and 1-for-9 from the 3-point line.
Over his last three games, Lanier is 8-for-43 from the field and just 4-for-24 from the 3-point line.
“Everyone goes through it,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said during his postgame press conference.
Dalton Knecht had similar struggles at times last season, Barnes explained, before stopping himself.
“I shouldn’t even bring (Knecht) up,” he said, “because everybody wants to make that comparison. And you can’t compare players.
“The best of the best, I’ve seen them go through some period where they struggle to shoot. It’s not the easiest thing in the world.”
Chaz Lanier leads Tennessee in scoring at 18.2 points per game
Lanier has spent most of the season making it look easy.
He entered Wednesday’s game as the SEC’s leading scorer, averaging 19.0 points per game. He’s still shooting 41.1% from the field and 41.7% from the 3-point line despite the three-game slump, which started at Florida last Tuesday, continued at Texas on Saturday then followed him home against Georgia.
Barnes isn’t concerned, though. If anything, he was encouraged by what he saw Wednesday night.
“I don’t worry about Chaz, because he’ll do it,” Barnes said. “And he’s making improvements. Like tonight, he’s going to have to make some tough shots, obviously, but I actually thought he did a pretty good job.”
Lanier did a good job doing what Tennessee’s coaching staff has been asking him to do — cut hard, come off screens hard, don’t waste any space he’s able to manufacture by doing both.
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“Maybe as good as he’s done all year (at) getting himself set up quicker,” Barnes said. “Normally coming off screens, (he’s) a little lackadaisical, letting guys catch back up with him when he gets that separation.”
Chaz Lanier has scored 20 or more points in seven games this season
Lanier was college basketball’s most efficient scorer during a breakout senior season at North Florida last season, averaging 19.7 points per game while shooting 51.0% from the field and 44.0% from three.
He has been that same star scorer at Tennessee, with 17 or more points in 12 of 16 games this season and 20 or more seven times, including a season-high 29 against Arkansas in his SEC debut on January 4.
“I think he’s learning this level,” Barnes said. “It’s a different level for him and (he’s) getting guarded differently.”
Barnes knows Lanier will get back to those numbers. Until then, there’s enough help around him for Tennessee to keep winning games.
“He had some looks tonight that obviously we’d love to see go in for him,” Barnes said, “but to be able to win the game like we did without him having a big night was good.”
“We feel like if he’s not going to give us something … we think somebody will,” Barnes added. “We think we’ve got enough guys that can do that for us. We really do.”
