Knoxville, Tenn. – A soldout Thompson-Boling Arena made its presence felt as former Vol and current Arkansas Razorback Jonas Aidoo made his return to Rocky Top.
The Vols defeated the Hogs 76-52 to stay undefeated on the season at 14-0 and 1-0 inside SEC play.
The three takeaways following the Top-25 showdown between Tennessee and Arkansas.
Chaz Lanier and the Vols’ perimeter presence:
The threes came early in this contest, none louder than a catch-and-shoot corner three by Chaz Lanier to make it 19-12 with 11:10 to go in the half. The sequence started with a Jordan Gainey steal and finished with an assist by Zakai Zeigler to Lanier.
It capped a 10-0 run over a 2:51 period, Lanier was reasonable for seven of those points and Calipari called a timeout.
Later in the half, Zeigler got in on the action.
Following an offensive rebound by Igor Milicic, he shoots it out to Zeigler from the wing and he sank the triple try to make it 28-20.
The very next bucket was a Zeigler three from the wing, Tennessee went on a 7-0 run over 1:44 minutes.
Calipari’s Hogs made adjustments and those threes weren’t as open in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
However, out of halftime Lanier reignited the three-pointer for Tennessee with back-to-back triples 48-29. Roughly seven minutes passed before another three fell, Jordan Gainey connected at the top of the arc, 63-45.
Chaz would sink his fifth made three with 05:13 to go in the game. That was the sixth time this season he’s made five or more in a single game. He also led the game in scoring with a season-high 29 points!
Milicic seemed to have found his shot again against the Hogs. After four straight games of single-digit scoring, Milicic put up seven in his first six minutes of action.
He finished with 13 points while going 2 of 5 from three. That was also just the third time this season he made at least two three-pointers.
Tennessee dominated the boards:
The Vols brought the physicality when it came to the rebound battle.
Milicic, who started out hot with seven points in six minutes, was even hotter on the boards.
Within the first four minutes of the game, he grabbed the first defensive rebound. The sequence ended with a Zeigler layup to make it 7-7.
After he checks back in, he grabs another defensive board and the possession ends with a Felix Okpara dunk, 21-12.
One of his more impressive efforts came when he grabbed an offensive rebound and assisted Zeigler on a made three-pointer to make it 28-18 with 5:41 left in the half.
Against a tough defense in Arkansas, Milicic’s ability to give Tennessee a second chance proved crucial. The team had 16 second-chance points with 1:44 left in the game.
After Zeigler missed on a reverse layup, Milicic came up with a strong offensive rebound, fed it to Lanier at the wing and he sank the triple try to make it 66-47.
The margin wasn’t close by the end of the game with Tennessee holding the 51-29 advantage. The Vols outrebounded the Hogs on both ends of the court.
Once again, Milicic led the team and game with 18 total rebounds, which is also a season-high figure for the forward.
Jonas Aidoo was a nonfactor:
Entering the game, Aidoo was averaging 23 minutes and 11 points from the field over the last five games.
Against Tennessee in the first half, his stat line was with a bunch of zeros.
0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 2 fouls, and 1 turnover.
To the delight of Tennessee fans, he missed both his free throw attempts at the start of the game which was met with an overwhelming amount of cheers.
In the second half, Zeigler was matchup up against the 6’11” forward and he torched Aidoo off the dribble and finished with a driving layup to extend the Vols’ lead 58-42.
Aidoo finished with four points on 2-3 shooting from the field and tacked on a team-high five rebounds.