What anonymous coaches told ESPN about Tennessee's No. 1-ranked basketball team
Chaz Lanier has looked the part as the star transfer for Tennessee Basketball through the first 11 games of the season. After being the most efficient scorer in college basketball last season at North Florida, he’s averaging 18.9 points per game with the Vols while shooting 45.4% from the floor and 47.1% on 85 3-point attempts.
That was one of the biggest takeaways from the Vols when ESPN recently quoted anonymous coaches. Rick Barnes lost Dalton Knecht, the best transfer and one of the best players in the country last season, and replaced him without missing a step by adding Lanier.
“(Lanier) picked the perfect place,” one anonymous coach told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, “a system that’s a tremendous fit for him. They move him around a lot. He’s always coming off a pin down, a stagger, which creates shots for him.
“He makes difficult shots too, guys draped all over him. He makes you pay for a defensive mistake. You shortcut a screen and don’t chase, he makes you pay.”
Chaz Lanier has scored 17 or more points in 9 of 11 games
Lanier has scored 17 or more points in all but two games this season, including the 19 he scored against Western Carolina in Tennessee’s 84-36 win Tuesday night and the 17 he scored in the 66-64 win at Illinois on Saturday.
He scored 26 against Virginia and 25 against Baylor in two wins in The Bahamas at the Baha Mar Championship in November, scored 19 at Louisville in the second game of the season and had 26 against Syracuse and 22 against Miami.
Lanier is leading a Tennessee team that has been ranked No. 1 for the last two weeks after a perfect 11-0 start to the season, the program’s best start since the 1999-2000 team also started the season with 11 straight wins.
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Tennessee ranked No. 1 in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency
Despite the new-look roster — Lanier is one of three starters Barnes added out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, alongside stretch forward Igor Milicic and center Felix Okpara — there’s been no let down in the elite defensive standard held by Barnes.
Tennessee is ranked No. 1 in KenPom.com‘s adjusted defensive efficiency, giving up just 88.3 points per 100 possessions. The Vols finished No. 3 last season, No. 1 two years ago, No. 3 in 2021-22 and No. 5 in 2020-21.
“It always starts with personnel,” one coach told ESPN. “Barnes has done a good job recruiting guys that defend. Guys that move laterally, that have a level of toughness, a level of physicality about them. But he also creates that.
“Their identity is clearly on the defensive side. They have multiple-effort guys. Some of the plays they make, they’re scrambling, rotating, blocking shots. They’re not a one-effort team. They cover for mistakes.”
