Igor Milicic, Chaz Lanier lead No. 11 Tennessee past Montana, 92-57
The Igor Milicic that showed up for No. 11 Tennessee Wednesday night against Montana is the player Rick Barnes and his coaching staff was so excited about over the offseason. The Chaz Lanier that showed up in the second half was the same Lanier that the Vols have seen through the first three games.
Milicic scored a season-high 18 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, setting the tone in the first half, and Lanier was on fire to start the second half, finishing 11 of his 13 points as the transfer duo led the way for Tennessee in a 92-57 win over the visiting Grizzlies.
Zakai Zeigler scored 11 points, had six rebounds and seven assists for Tennessee (3-0) and Felix Okpara added 13 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Cam Carr added 13, two rebounds and two assists.
Montana (2-2) got a game-high 30 points from sophomore guard Money Williams.
Lanier, who sat for 13 minutes in the first half after picking up two early fouls, scored eight of the first 10 Tennessee points to start the second half, taking what was a nine-point lead at the break and quickly building it to 18.
Lanier had 11 points in the first six minutes of the half after hitting another three with 14:05 to go, getting the lead to 21.
Entering Wednesday’s game, Lanier, the North Florida transfer guard, led Tennessee in scoring at 18.5 points per game, after scoring 19 at Louisville on Saturday and 18 against Gardner-Webb on November 4.
Milicic, the stretch forward transfer from Charlotte, battled foul trouble at Louisville, scoring seven points in just 12 minutes, and had eight points and four rebounds in 17 minutes against Gardner-Webb.
Igor Milicic led Vols with 14 points in first half
Tennessee led 40-31 at halftime after getting 14 points, two rebounds and an assist from Milicic in the first half. He went 4-for-5 from the floor, 2-for-3 from the 3-point line and 4-for-4 at the foul line.
The Vols led by 10 early on, going up 16-6 on a JP Estrella after the team started a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor. Williams shot Montana back into the game from there.
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The Griz got 16 from Williams in the first half after he went 4-for-6 from the floor, 3-for-4 from the foul line and 5-for-5 at the foul line.
Tennessee as a team shot 57.1% from the field, going 12 of 21, in the first half and 44.4% from the 3-point line, going 4-for-9.
No. 11 Tennessee vs. Austin Peay, Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, SEC Network+
Tennessee is back at Food City Center to host Austin Peay on Sunday in a 3 p.m. Eastern Time start streaming on SEC Network+. The Govs are off to a 3-0 start, including a 68-66 win over Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Friday.
Austin Peay started the season with a 95-75 win over Union University on November 4 and beat Chattanooga 67-61 on Monday.
Tennessee will then go to The Bahamas to face Virginia in the opening round of the Baha Mar Championship on November 21. The Vols will face either No. 12 Baylor and No. 22 St. John’s on November 22 in the second game in the four-team tournament.
The December schedule includes home games against UT Martin, Syracuse (SEC/ACC Challenge), Western Carolina, MTSU and Norfolk State, a road game at Illinois and a neutral-site game against Miami in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York.
