Tennessee finds answers late in much-needed road win at Texas, 74-70

Tennessee needed a spark Saturday night against Texas. Darlinstone Dubar gave the Vols just what they needed, just when they needed it.

Dubar tied the game with a high-flying two-hand dunk on an offensive rebound with just over six minutes left, then put No. 1 Tennessee up for good with a fall-down 3-pointer on the wing with 3:57 to go as the Vols got a tough, much-needed 74-70 road win over the Longhorns at the Moody Center in Austin.

Dubar, the Hofstra transfer, scored nine of his 12 points in the second half for Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC), with the Vols rallying to bounce back from the 73-43 loss at Florida on Tuesday. Zakai Zeigler scored 16, Jordan Gainey had 12 and Chaz Lanier had 10.

Five-star freshman Tre Johnson starred for Texas (11-5, 0-3) with 26 points, going 11-for-17 from the floor, including 4-for-8 from three. Jordan Pope had 17 and Tramon Mark scored 10.

Tennessee trailed 56-54 when Dubar ran down the lane to follow a missed three with game-changing dunk to tie it. His three with 3:57 left was followed by a Felix Okpara dunk to follow an offensive rebounds of his own. Okpara finished with seven points and nine rebounds.

Gainey hit a three at the 2:41 mark to suddenly make it a 66-60 Tennessee lead after the Vols spent much of the second half trailing.

Tennessee couldn’t solve its turnover problem for much of the game. The Vols didn’t have any answers for Johnson for most of the game, either.

Texas scored 21 points off of 15 Tennessee turnovers and Johnson scored 14 points in the second half on 6 of 9 shooting, going 2-for-4 from the 3-point line. Johnson made five shots in the first nine minutes of the second half, but only one in the final 11 minutes.

Vols shot 48.0% in first half, but committed 10 turnovers

Tennessee led by as many as six points in the first half and trailed by as many as five. The Vols used an 8-0 run to retake the lead late in the half and led 33-31 at the break. 

Chaz Lanier had eight points, Igor Milicic had seven and Felix Okpara and Jordan Gainey scored five points each in the first half. The Vols shot 48.0% from the field and 54.5% from three, going 6-for-11 from the 3-point line, but struggled to keep the lead while committing 10 turnovers, leading to 13 Texas points.

Rick Barnes took a timeout at the 6:13 mark, after Texas scored eight straight as part of a 13-2 run to take a 24-19 lead. Tennessee answered with eight straight points as part of a 14-4 run to take a 33-28 lead in the final minute of the half.

Johnson led all scorers with 12 points in the first half for Texas, going 5-for-8 from the field and 2-for- 4 from the 3-point line, including a three with six seconds left in the half to get it back to a one-possession game.

Up Next: Tennessee vs. Georgia, Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET

After two road games this week, Tennessee returns home to host Georgia Wednesday, an 8 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network at Food City Center. The Vols go to Vanderbilt on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network) and host Mississippi State on January 21. 

Mississippi State starts a tough four-game stretch that continues with a road game at Auburn on January 25, Kentucky at home on January 28 and Florida at home on February 1. 

Auburn will be the new No. 1 team in the country when the rankings update on Monday. Last week Kentucky was ranked No. 6, Florida was ranked No. 8 and Mississippi State was ranked No. 14.