Where Tennessee Basketball is ranked after the 77-55 win at Louisville
Tennessee Basketball on Monday moved up three spots to No. 9 in the Coaches Poll and one spot to No. 11 in the Associated Press Top 25, following the 77-55 win at Louisville on Saturday. The Vols were ranked 12th in the preseason in both polls.
Tennessee moved up five spots in the KenPom.com ratings, going from No. 14 to No. 9. The Vols are up to No. 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 28 in adjusted offensive efficiency.
After passing the first road test of the season, Tennessee (2-0) returns home to host Montana on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network+ at Food City Center.
Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler scored 19 points each in the win at Louisville on Saturday, helping the Vols lead by as many as 26 points in the wire-to-wire win in front of 16,976 fans at the KFC Yum! Center.
Felix Okpara finished with 10 points and six rebounds and Jordan Gainey had nine points, four rebounds and four assists.
Rick Barnes ‘really proud of the defensive effort’ at Louisville
Tennessee outscored Louisville 40-10 in the paint and out-rebounded the Cardinals 40-26.
“Really proud of the defensive effort,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after the game. “You guys that know us, we feel we got to get that lock down early.”
Zeigler had a career-high nine turnovers in the first half, but responded with 12 points and just two turnovers after halftime. The Vols turned it over 20 times as a team, but limited Louisville to just 12 points off of turnovers.
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Louisville got a 22-point deficit down to nine points in the second half, but Zeigler answered with three 3-pointers over the following five minutes.
“Really, you look at the stat sheet,” Barnes said, “you will look at Zakai’s nine turnovers. But when they cut it to nine, he took the game over.”
Tennessee vs. Montana, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network+
The Vols have two games at home this week, hosting Montana on Wednesday and facing Austin Peay at home on Sunday afternoon, in a 3 p.m. ET start on SEC Network+.
Tennessee will go to the Bahamas for the Baha Mar Championship, where Virginia is the opening-round opponent on November 21. Either Baylor or St. John’s will be the second game in the four-team tournament bracket on November 22.
The Vols play UT Martin at home on November 27 and host Syracuse in the ACC/SEC Challenge on December 3 before going to New York to face Miami in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden on December 10.
