Rick Barnes on pulling Chaz Lanier at Texas for not shooting: 'He is getting paid to do that'
If Chaz Lanier isn’t going to shoot the basketball, Rick Barnes isn’t going to play him. That’s how simple and how direct the message was from the head coach to his star transfer Saturday night against Texas at the Moody Center in Austin.
When Lanier subbed out just 11 seconds into the second half, it was because he didn’t shoot it.
“I took him out the first play of the second half because he didn’t shoot the ball,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference after Tennessee rallied for a 74-70 win,
“That play was designed for that shot. And I told him, 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.”
Chaz Lanier leading Tennessee in scoring at 19.0 points per game this season
Lanier, Tennessee’s leading scorer this season after transferring from North Florida, finished with 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting, going 2-for-6 from the 3-point line, in 34 minutes.
He struggled at Florida on Tuesday, scoring 10 points while going 3-for-16 from the floor and 1-for-9 from the field in the 73-43 loss in Gainesville.
Lanier went to Florida having scored 17 or more points in 10 straight games. He’s averaging 19.0 points per game while shooting 42.9% from the field and 43.7% from the 3-point line.
But Barnes said Lanier is going to have to be more than just a shooter, explaining that he’ll have to work harder to provide offense for his team.
“I’ve told Chaz all along,” Barnes said, “he doesn’t have to score the ball for us to win, but he’s going have to help those guys by learning how to screen. (He’s) going to have to learn to cut harder, going to have to learn to do his work early coming off screens because he kind of gallops a little bit.”
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The ESPN broadcast of Saturday’s game at Texas noted that Barnes has shown Lanier film of former Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi to show him how hard Vescovi would come off screens to get open.
“He is going have to keep his feet closer to the ground so when he comes off,” Barnes added.
Zakai Zeigler, Darlinstone Dubar led Tennessee to tough road win at Texas
Zakai Zeigler had 16 points, eight assists and three rebounds in 36 minutes to lead Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC) at Texas. Darlinstone Dubar provided a spark with nine of his 12 points in the second half and Jordan Gainey added another 12 off the bench.
Felix Okpara had seven points and nine rebounds and Igor Milicic scored seven and had six boards.
Lanier was one of the biggest names in the NCAA Transfer Portal in the spring. The Nashville native picked Tennessee over Kentucky and BYU after averaging 19.7 points per game during a breakout senior season at North Florida.
The 10 points the last two times out for Lanier is his lowest production since scoring five against Austin Peay on November 17. The 11 shots he took at Texas was the lowest total since taking six against Austin Peay.
“Texas did a great job guarding him,” Barnes said. “I thought his teammates did enough to get him enough separation he could have been effective. But he still has got to learn to get his hips twisted quicker so he can get downhill quicker.”
