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Tennessee 'fought for every inch on the court' during frantic rally in closing minutes at Georgia

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•01/14/24•

GrantRamey

Dalton Knecht
(Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports) Jan 13, 2024; Athens, Georgia, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Dalton Knecht (3) reacts with forward Jonas Aidoo (0) after defeating the Georgia Bulldogs at Stegeman Coliseum.

Zakai Zeigler poked the ball away from Georgia’s Justin Hill with his right hand, took possession and jogged the other way. There was no one between Tennessee’s junior point guard and the rim, so he took his time, appeared to laugh along the way, then finished with an easy layup.

The turnover and transition bucket put No. 5 Tennessee up by 14 points with four minutes left in the first half, the biggest lead of the game for the Vols. But for the next 17 minutes, there wasn’t much to smile about. 

Tennessee missed its final seven shots from the field in the first half, Georgia closed on a 9-0 run going into the locker room, then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second half and take a 43-42 lead after scoring 15 straight points.

Eventually the lead would balloon to 11 when freshman guard Blue Cain made a 3-pointer with 6:24 left. From cruising, up 14, to down 11 in front of a hostile, capacity crowd on the road.

“I knew they were going to fight us every step of the way,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after the game. 

But for the final six minutes, the Vols found their fight. 

Tennessee closed the game on a 15-1 run over the final 4:49, made seven of its final nine shots from the field and held Georgia scoreless over the final 2:07, somehow leaving Stegeman Coliseum in Athens with a roller coaster of an 85-79 win.

“They fought for every inch on the court, defensively,” Georgia coach Mike White said during his postgame press conference. “We struggled to get a clean look when it most mattered.”

Dalton Knecht scored 13 points in the final eight minutes, on his way to a game-high 36 as he starred once again on the road, and Zakai Zeigler scored seven of his 18 in the final 7:30.

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee vs. Florida, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

Barnes had a different answer for what went so right in the final five minutes of the second half, after everything had gone so wrong for the first 15 minutes.

The Vols stopped fouling.

“I told the team before the game, the last thing I said to them, I want you to know these guys are a really, really good offensive team,” Barnes said. “We’re going to have to guard without fouling.  

“We didn’t do that in the first half, but coming down the end, I thought we did a much better job of finding the shooters, getting there and trying to work to stay in front of the ball out front, out top.”

Tennessee was called for 10 fouls in the first half. The Vols cut the number down to six in the second half, with only two in the final eight minutes.

Georgia didn’t make a shot from the field over the final five minutes, not after Blue Cain made a three at the 5:03 mark, putting the Bulldogs up 78-70. Georgia made just one of its final 13 shots in the loss.

“We got them down,” Barnes said, “they didn’t flinch, they came right back and really came out the second half and went right at us. And thankfully the last four minutes we were able to come out here with a win.”

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