With five nonconference games still remaining on his team’s schedule, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has the newest No. 1-ranked team in the country primed for the rigors of Southeastern Conference competition.
The Volunteers (8-0) return to action Tuesday night when they take their top ranking to New York City for a matchup against Miami in the Jimmy V Classic.
Tennessee has overwhelmed opponents this season and the early run earned the team the top spot in the polls after previous No. 1 Kansas lost twice since Wednesday.
The Volunteers’ slimmest margin of victory was a 15-point win over then-No. 13 Baylor on Nov. 22 in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas title game. In the 77-62 win, Tennessee led 47-20 at halftime and was never threatened even as it was outscored by Baylor 42-30 in the second half.
Transfer guard Chaz Lanier, who arrived from North Florida, showed his shooting prowess in the Bahamas and was stellar again last Tuesday in a 96-70 victory home win over Syracuse in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
A 3-point specialist from Nashville, Lanier was 4 of 10 from deep and totaled 26 points as the Volunteers used a 10-0 run in the first half to lead 45-35 at the break and never let up against the Orange.
Lanier made 44.0 percent of his 241 attempts from 3-point range for North Florida last season when he averaged 19.7 points per game.
Lanier gave plenty of credit to teammate Zakai Zeigler for his ability to fit in with the Volunteers.
“He just makes the game so much easier,” Lanier said. “He’s a leader on and off the court and in the locker room. He just drops knowledge to me and gives me great insight on the game.”
Coming off a 15-17 campaign after making the Final Four two years ago, the Hurricanes (3-6) look more like the 2023-24 squad than the one that advanced to a national semifinal game in 2023 before losing to eventual national champion UConn.
Miami carries a six-game losing streak into Tuesday’s game.
To make matters worse, the most recent defeat occurred Saturday in the Hurricanes’ Atlantic Coast Conference opener in Miami for coach Jim Larranaga’s bunch, which trailed by a point at the half and lost 65-55 to Clemson.
Miami connected on just 41.1 percent of its shots and was 4 of 25 from 3-point range. Leading scorer Nijel Pack (14.1 points) went scoreless and missed all seven of his shot attempts, with every one of them coming from beyond the 3-point line.
“We tried to get him going (but it was) just one of those nights,” Larranaga said of Pack, who is shooting 37.5 percent from distance. “I’d say you have to give credit to (Clemson’s) Jaeden Zackery because he’s a little taller than Nijel but weighs 30 or 40 pounds more and is very physical.”
In each of the past two seasons, Larranaga sees a continuity issue that has led to defeats.
“We had some many injuries (last season) that we had very little chemistry despite the fact that we had players returning from the Final Four team,” the coach said. “This year we’re missing a key player in Kiree Huie. We need another big guy to rebound.”
–Field Level Media
