The Vols return to Food City Center after a get-back win over Texas
Knoxville, Tenn. – The Vols returned to Food City Center after splitting a pair of road games to take on the Georgia Bulldogs.
My three takeaways following the 74-56 win over the Bulldogs.
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Vols’ offense warmed up in the second half.
After Mashack made the first bucket of the game, Tennessee went 0-5 on its next attempts for a 3:49 scoring drought.
When Georgia called its first timeout with 15:51 to go in the first half, the Vols were 1-6 from the field and 0-4 from the three-point line.
Georgia has the 9th best perimeter defense, holding opponents to 28% efficiency.
That held up in the first half. Tennessee was a 3-15 or 20% in the first half. The Vols also finished the half 2 of its last 10 attempts.
However, in the second half, it was a different story. The Vols started the half on a wild 24-6 run.
The basket was an ocean for Zakai Zeigler who found his shot from the arc midway through the second half.
Three straight three-pointers for the point guard capped an 11-0 run over 1:14 by the 12:26 mark when Georgia called a timeout.
Those three makes, matched the total from the first 20 minutes of the game.
Mashack had the first three-pointer off a corner look by the Tennessee bench.
Zeigler finished with 16 points and was 4-8 from the perimeter. More impressively, he led the team in steals with seven and assists with seven.
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Tennessee was tougher on the glass.
Georgia is No. 3 in the country in dunks, yet Tennessee managed to snag the first one off a lob from Zakai Zeigler to Cade Phillips.
Milicic continued to bring the hustle in rebounding the game.
Often time he’d be the player to make the athletic move to reach for the ball, especially on the out-of-area rebounds that come off three-point attempts.
Four of his five offensive boards in the first half came by tracking down missed three-pointers.
Milicic gets an athletic offensive rebound after a Zakai Zeigler three-pointer rims out.
Later in the first half, Jordan Gainey missed on his three-point attempt but Phillips was there to grab the offensive rebound. He looked to feed it to his teammates but he saw an open lane and he took advantage by dropping the hammer for the dunk, 14-14.
The presence in the post was strong for Tennessee.
In the second half, Knoxville native Blue Cain tried the fadeaway jumper but it was no good and Jordan Gainey was there to wrestle for the defensive rebound.
In the final minutes of the game, Milicic grabbed an offensive rebound and dished it to Mashack who finished with midrange jumper. That gave Tennessee 17 second-chance points. The Vols ahead of Georgia 74-52.
Tennessee outrebounded the Dawgs 35-29. They were incredibly aggressive on the offensive end with 18 boards.
3. Jahmai Mashack is the spark.
Jahmai Mashack had so many hustle plays in this game, not all of them ended perfectly with a score on the other end, but they all disrupted the Bulldogs.
His hustle was on display when he tipped the ball out of the Bulldogs’ hands and when no one could recover the ball in the air, it went rolling on the court.
Mashack had the heads-up play to hustle for the ball. He tracked it all the way from midcourt to the far corner near Georgia’s bench to save the possession for Tennessee.
In the opening minutes of the second half, Mashack deflected a pass and as four players were fighting for the ball, it was Felix Okpara who recovered it. No Tennessee bucket on the other end, but it stole one from Georgia.
Later he deflected a Georgia layup, Zakai Zeigler got the offense rebound. On the other end, Lanier tried the corner three, it was no good, but Okpara was there to slam it down!
Those types of shots are what the team is begging Lanier to take. Even if they don’t give in, it still gives the Vols to grab rebounds or make plays like that.