Tennessee Basketball Rallies from 16 Down to Beat Vanderbilt

The Vols were down by 16 points, but they came back to get revenge on Vanderbilt and secure a huge win.

Tennessee got a very important win over Vanderbilt on Saturday after trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half. The No. 5 Vols got revenge on the Commodores after losing to them earlier in the year.

Chaz Lanier paced the Vols with 21 points and Zakai Zeigler had 22 all in the second half to help lead the comeback. He also had eight assists. It was a very impressive performance from the Vols’ senior point guard after struggling mightily in the first half.

The Vols were down 8-4 to start the game after a couple of turnovers. Lanier hit a deep 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 8-7 three minutes into the game. Tennessee's defense had a bad start to the game and allowed the Commodores to start 5-7 from the floor.

It was 18-11 Vanderbilt after a banked-in 3-pointer. The Vols lacked energy and were immediately in trouble early. They were down 27-17 with 8:42 to play in the half after another Vanderbilt 3-pointer. Tennessee continued one of its worst defensive performances of the year and were down 38-24 with four minutes left in the half.

Igor Millicic Jr. hit a 3-pointer to make it 42-29 with 41 seconds left in the half, but Tennessee was still down 44-31 at the half.

The lead was cut to nine after a few baskets in a row by Tennessee. Zeigler then hit a big 3-pointer to get the crowd into it after he was involved in a double technical foul. Vanderbilt called a timeout after a Felix Okpara dunk cut the lead to eight with 15 minutes left to play.

Zeigler hit an and-one layup and converted the free throw to make it 50-45 Vanderbilt and capped a 7-0 run. Jordan Gainey hit two free throws to make it a 9-0 run. Then Zeigler hit a triple to make it 52-50 Vanderbilt.

Zeigler then tied the game with a huge corner triple and then Lanier gave the Vols their first lead of the game with a driving layup with nine minutes to play. There were a few lead changes back and forth and Tennessee had a 62-61 lead with six minutes to play.

Lanier hit a huge 3-pointer to give the Vols a 67-63 lead with 4:50 to play. Vanderbilt’s Jaylen Carey had a monster put-back dunk but then fouled out with four minutes left. Milicic fouled Jason Edwards on a 3-point attempt and he converted two of the three to tie the game at 67-67.

Zeigler layed it in to put the Vols back in front but then Vanderbilt hit a triple to take the lead back. Zeigler got to the foul line and hit two shots to make it 71-70 with three minutes left. A Jahmai Mashack triple from the corner made it a four-point game.

Gainey hit a driving layup but then Edwards hit a triple to make it 76-63 with one minute remaining. Edwards answered two Zeigler free throws with another 3-pointer to make it 78-76 with 28 seconds left. Zeigler got the last laugh with a game-sealing layup and Tennessee completed the comeback.

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