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Chaz Lanier, No. 6 Tennessee bounce back against No. 14 Mississippi State, 68-56

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•about 10 hours•

GrantRamey

Chaz Lanier, Tennessee Basketball | Andrew Ferguson, Tennessee Athletics
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee Basketball | Andrew Ferguson, Tennessee Athletics

No. 6 Tennessee needed it. Chaz Lanier needed it. A capacity crowd at Food City Center needed it. 

After a frustrating 76-75 loss at Vanderbilt on Saturday, the Vols had a cathartic 40 minutes of basketball Tuesday night against Mississippi State, jumping out to an 18-point lead at halftime, while only giving up 16 points in the first half, and rolled to a 68-56 bounce-back win in Knoxville.

Lanier lit the fire on the explosive first half for Tennessee (17-2, 4-2 SEC), hitting four 3-pointers in his first 11 minutes on the floor and finished the game with 23 points after scoring 14 in the first half. Zakai Zeigler did it on both ends, with four steals in his first 11 minutes, to go with seven points in the first half. He ended the night with nine points, seven assists and two rebounds to go with the four steals. 

Jahmai Mashack had 10 points, including a pair of corner threes in the second half, and Jordan Gainey had 10 more off the bench. 

Igor Milicic and Felix Okpara cleaned up the glass early on, with five rebounds each in the first half. while Okpara had nine points and a season-high 12 rebounds and Milicic finished with seven boards.

Chaz Lanier hits five 3-pointers while scoring 23 points

Mississippi State (15-4, 3-3) got 14 points from Josh Hubbard and 10 from RJ Melendez.

State started the second half on an 8-0 run after trailing 34-16 at halftime, getting the deficit down to 10. It was down to seven points going into the first media timeout after halftime, after another five straight from the Bulldogs.

The lead was back to 10 with 14:21 left, after Okpara drained a forced 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock. It was 12 after a Gainey bucket, then 14 after a Lanier reverse layup in transition. 

Lanier’s five 3-pointers were his most since hitting five against Arkansas on January 4, when he scored a season-high 29 points. He had 17 points in the loss at Vandy on Saturday, going 4-for-6 from the 3-point line after going 4-for-24 over the previous three games. 

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee at No. 1 Auburn, Saturday

Tennessee goes to No. 1 Auburn for Saturday night’s showdown at Neville Arena, scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN. ESPN’s College GameDay will broadcast live from Auburn Saturday morning.

Auburn (17-1, 5-0) has won 10 straight game since its only loss of the season, 84-78 at Duke on December 4. The Tigers do not have a midweek game this week.

Auburn has been without center Johni Broome the last two games, after he suffered an ankle injury in the win at South Carolina on January 11. Broome leads Auburn in points (17.9), rebounding (10.7) and assists (3.2). 

Without him the Tigers held on for a 66-63 win at South Carolina, beat Mississippi State by 22 at home and won 70-68 at Georgia on Saturday. 

There’s no letup in the SEC schedule after the tip to Auburn, Tennessee returning home for back-to-back games against No. 9 Kentucky (January 28) and No. 5 Florida (February 1). 

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