Chaz Lanier tallied 22 points, Igor Milicic Jr. posted 16 points and nine rebounds, and No. 1 Tennessee used a late first-half run to roll to a 75-62 nonconference victory over Miami on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic in New York.
Favored by 14 1/2 points at Madison Square Garden, the Volunteers (9-0) closed the first half by netting 14 unanswered points against Miami (3-7) to set up the Hurricanes’ seventh straight defeat.
A three-point specialist who transferred from North Florida, Lanier made 4 of 7 from beyond the arc. Zakai Zeigler totaled 13 points, nine assists and five rebounds.
Virginia Tech transfer Lynn Kidd led Miami with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Nijel Pack scored 12 points and A.J. Staton-McCray added 11 points and four steals.
The Volunteers shot 48.1 percent from the floor, while the Hurricanes hit 39.3.
Taking the court for the first time this season as the nation’s top-ranked squad, Tennessee had its hands full early with coach Jim Larranaga’s Hurricanes.
Lanier canned a pair of treys for Tennessee, but the sharpshooting Pack responded with a pair of 3s for Miami in a 14-all tie six minutes into the game, which honored the legacy of late NC State coach Jim Valvano and the foundation’s cancer research in his name.
With 7:57 left in the half, Kidd drained a jump hook, giving the Hurricanes their lone lead at 25-24.
Miami failed to score another point in the half as the Volunteers’ defense stiffened and the offense went on a 14-0 run for a 38-25 lead at the break.
While Lanier and Milicic topped all scorers with 11 points apiece in the first half, the opening 20 minutes were mostly about long-distance shooting as each squad lobbed most of their field-goal attempts from deep.
Behind Lanier’s 3-for-4 showing, Tennessee made 7 of 17 (41.2 percent), while Miami went 6 of 18 (33.3) from beyond the arc in the half.
Cade Phillips ran off all nine of his points, including a couple of alley-oop dunks, as coach Rick Barnes’ team pulled ahead 55-37 with 12:14 to play.
The Hurricanes closed the gap to 63-56 on a free throw by Divine Ugochukwu before the Volunteers pushed on to the win.
–Field Level Media
