Tennessee and the Lady Vols go 2-0 from New York to both stay perfect on the season
New York, NY. – Tennessee and the Lady Vols fared quite well in The Big Apple. The two programs took care of business to return to Rocky Top with a pair of wins.
After the first 13 minutes of the game for the Vols, they turned it on against Miami to close out the first half on a 14-0 run, but Miami made things interesting in the second half.
Three things to know following a win over the Hurricanes.
1. Zakai Zeigler is an assist machine.
Currently, the point guard is fifth in the nation averaging 7.9 assists a game. Through the first 20 minutes of the game Ziegler had 6 assists.
Maybe none more important than his dish to Igor Milicic who flushed it for a pair to extend Tennessee’s run to 12-0 over six minutes at 1:19 mark 36-25.
His 8th assist on the night game midway in the second half on a lob to Cade Phillips who threw down his second dunk of the night for his 11th point.
2. Tennessee defense made the difference
During Tennessee’s 12-0 run in the first half, their offensive success came from defense tightening up and capitalizing on turnover margin.
Early in the first half, Tennessee forced a turnover on Miami’s Paul Djobet and Zeigler in transition dished it out to Milicic for the triple to make it 24-18.
Later, Jahmai Mashack came up with a steal after a deflection off his leg and connected on a layup on the other end to push Tennessee’s 12-0 run to 14-0 over roughly 7 minutes to pull ahead 38-25.
At the break head coach Rick Barnes highlighted how rebounding made a key difference in the game but they needed to do a better job finishing.
The Vols came out with some fire in the second half.
A massive block by Jordan Gainey who kicks it to Mashack, then dishes to Milicic who delivers a beautiful lob to Phillips who threw it down for the dunk to make it 50-33 Vols.
Through much of the game, Mashack did a great job not letting the Hurricanes get the angle inside, so many of the Canes’ looks were tough long range jumpers against Mashack.
Midway through the second half, Canes’ A.J. Staton-McCray forced a turnover on Zeigler and a euro step layup made it a 10 point game, 59-49 vols.
That bucket capped a quick 45 second, 7-0 Miami run and Barnes gets a timeout.
3. First Half looked like Kim Caldwell’s team with the amount of three’s the Vols were firing off.
35 total threes between Tennessee and Miami were attempted to start the game. Tennessee was responsible for 17 of them and converted on seven of their attempts.
Lanier was incredibly efficient.
His 11 first half points came by way of going 3-of-4 from the perimeter. His first points and the Vols’ first came on a three- pointer from a Zeigler assist.
His last points of the game, a three-pointer.
He finished 4-of-7 from the three point line.
After his 22-point performance, he highlighted the composure of his teammates that led to an eventual 75-62 victory.
Lanier’s 6th in nation with 3.8 a game on average.
Behind Lanier, was Milicic with a pair of three-pointers on five attempts.
Tennessee finished 10-of-25 from the perimeter or 40.5%, which is three percent better than their season average.
They did so while making just one more three than their average.