No. 7 Tennessee feasts on UT Martin, 78-35
Tennessee continued Feast Week Wednesday afternoon by continuing to eat. After winning the Baha Mar Championship last week in the Bahamas, the Vols returned home to Food City Center to throttle UT Martin 78-35.
Chaz Lanier stayed hot, scoring 18 points to lead Tennessee (7-0), which got a combined 51 points from Lanier against Virginia and Baylor to win the Baha Mar title late last week. Felix Okpara had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds
Igor Milicic and Zakai Zeigler both flirted with double-doubles of their own. Milicic finished with nine points and 13 rebounds and Zeigler had 11 points and nine assists. Jahmai Mashack had seven points, six rebounds and four assists.
UT Martin (2-5) got a team-high 15 points from Jose Grullon.
Tennessee’s defense held UT Martin to 23.5% shooting from the floor and scored 24 points off of 18 forced turnovers and set a new Thompson-Boling Arena for fewest points allowed. That record was previously set in a 76-36 win over UNC Greensboro on December 11, 2021.
Lanier, Milicic led Vols in first half, combining for 18 points
Tennessee led 35-20 at halftime after getting 11 from Lanier and seven from Milcic in the first half.
The Vols shot 40% from the floor and went 6-for-22 from the 3-point line. They dominated the glass, outrebounding Martin 22-13 at the break, with 10 offensive rebounds and eight second-chance points.
Lanier made three of Tennessee’s six 3-pointers and Milicic added a team-high seven rebounds to go with his seven points in the first half.
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Zakai Zeigler had five assists in the first first half and Jahmai Mashack had four. Felix Okpara scored four points and had six rebounds in 12 minutes before the break.
Grullon scored 10 in the first half for UT Martin, going 4-for-9 from the field, including 2-for-6 from the 3-point line, in 13 minutes.
Up Next: No. 7 Tennessee vs. Syracuse, SEC-ACC Challenge
Tennessee is back home at Food City Center Tuesday to host Syracuse in the second edition of the SEC-ACC Challenge, scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN. The Vols lost 100-92 at North Carolina last season in the first year of the competition between the two leagues.
The big-name competition with Miami in the Jimmy V Classic on December 10 (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Madison Square Garden in New York. From there, the Vols go to Illinois on December 14 (5:30 p.m. ET, FOX) for the second game in a two-year home-and-home, which started with a home win over the Illini last December.
Tennessee will be home against Western Carolina (December 17), Middle Tennessee State (December 23) and Norfolk State (December 31) in the final three non-conference games of the season. SEC play starts at home against Arkansas on January 4.
