LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team turned in a dominant performance in front of 16,976 fans Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center, cruising to a 77-55 victory over homestanding Louisville.
No. 12 Tennessee (2-0) did not trail the entire contest and led by double digits for all but 45 seconds of the final 30 minutes. The Volunteers, who shot a blistering 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc, got a co-game-high 19 points apiece from fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier and senior guard Zakai Zeigler in the thorough decision.
The Volunteers raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first 5:10 and held Louisville (1-1) without a point for the opening 5:25, forcing seven straight misses to open the game. The Cardinals had four turnovers in that stretch, including on each of their first three possessions.
Tennessee, which started 3-of-4 from deep and held Louisville to a 2-of-9 beginning beyond the arc, extended its edge to 16, 29-13, with 7:22 on the first-half timer after scoring eight straight points in 2:27. After missing eight straight field-goal attempts, the Cardinals converted a three-point play, but the Volunteers responded with nine points in a row in 2:33 s to go ahead by 22, 38-16, with 3:18 left in the frame, making it a 17-3 extended run in 6:31.
Louisville responded with a 10-0 burst in 2:16 to get within 12 with 41 seconds on the timer, but a jump-shot at the other by senior guard Jordan Gainey sent Tennessee into the locker room with 40-26 advantage. In a half during which they had 10-0, 9-0 and 8-0 runs, the Volunteers shot 59.3 percent (16-of-27) and held the home team to a 24.2 percent (8-of-33) ledger.
Tennessee sandwiched 3-pointers around a pair of Louisville free throws to open the second session, making it 46-28 with 16:52 to play. At that point, the Volunteers were 6-of-10 from deep, while Louisville had a 5-of-24 mark. The Cardinals missed their next long-range shot, but soon thereafter got back-to-back makes from senior guard Reyne Smith to cap a 10-1 run and make it a nine-point game, 47-38, with 13:17 remaining.
Zeigler countered with a 30-footer at the other end to spark a 22-5 burst—it included two more 3-pointers by Zeigler and one from Lanier—that put the visitors back ahead by a game-high 26 points, 69-43, with 6:38 to play. The spurt ended with 10 consecutive points in 107 seconds. Although the Cardinals scored the next eight points in 61 seconds, they never got the margin under 18 the rest of the way, as Tennessee closed out a convincing road performance with a 22-point triumph.
Eleven of Zeigler’s 19 points came in the final 13 minutes, after Louisville got within single digits. He finished 7-of-13 from the field, including 4-of-7 beyond the arc, adding a game-best seven assists and three steals. Lanier, who scored six of the game’s first eight points, shot 7-of-15, with a 3-of-6 ledger on 3-pointers.
Junior forward Felix Okpara totaled 10 points and six rebounds, while senior guard Jahmai Mashack turned in a dominant all-around performance that included a game-best seven rebounds and a co-team-high three steals, matching Zeigler.
Smith scored 18 points to pace the Cardinals, while sixth-year forward Noah Waterman chipped in 10 points. That duo had 28 points on 8-of-20 field-goal shooting and 7-of-18 3-point shooting, while every other Louisville player accumulated 27 points on 8-of-40 overall shooting and a 3-of-21 long-range clip.
Tennessee finished with an impressive 40-10 margin in paint points, along with 15-5 cushion in second chance points. It started 10-of-16 from beyond the arc, at which point the Cardinals were just 8-of-32.
In total, the Volunteers went 30-of-53 (56.6 percent) from the field while limiting Louisville to a 16-of-60 (26.7 percent) mark at the other end.
Tennessee continues competition Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it welcomes Montana to Food City Center, with tipoff set for 7 p.m., live on SEC Network+. Coverage begins at 6:30pm from 103.1FM WIKQ.
