Chaz Lanier scored a game-high 21 points as No. 4 Tennessee coasted to a 70-52 win at Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon in Norman, Okla.
Zakai Zeigler collected 17 points and nine assists for Tennessee (20-4, 6-4 Southeastern Conference).
Jalon Moore scored 12 points and Brycen Goodine added nine for Oklahoma (16-7, 3-7) which dropped its second straight game.
The Volunteers fired on all cylinders, hitting 14-of-16 shots from the field and connecting on their first six shots from behind the arc to start the game. Tennessee shot 60.4 percent from the field for the game en route to winning their third contest in a row.
After a Glenn Taylor Jr. bucket quelled an 11-2 run by Tennessee, Lanier hit a contested 3-pointer to boost the Volunteers’ lead to 27-16. After a stop on defense, Darlinstone Dubar nailed a triple to ignite a 14-3 surge by Tennessee.
The Volunteers’ success from behind the 3-point line also opened up driving lanes. Tennessee held a 36-20 edge on points in the paint.
Tennessee made nine straight shots until a Lanier miss was followed up by a Felix Okpara two-handed slam for a 38-19 lead with 4:50 left in the first half.
Moore followed up the dunk with a layup that snapped a near five-minute scoring drought on the Sooners’ next possession.
As the Oklahoma defense collapsed on a Zeigler drive, he kicked a pass out to Igor Milicic Jr. who was fouled and converted the old-fashioned three-point play with 1:55 left as the Vols took a 44-23 lead. Moore’s layup closed out the first-half scoring and the Sooners trailed 45-25.
With a 7-2 second-half burst, Oklahoma closed within 49-34 on a Jeremiah Fears’ free throw. But, the Vols kept pouring it on.
Milicic Jr. capped a 9-0 run when he hit Okpara on a back cut with a lob pass for an alley-oop dunk and a 68-40 Tennessee lead with 5:30 to play.
–Field Level Media
