Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier scored 19 points each for the Tennessee Volunteers, who posted their first road win of the season in dominating fashion, beating the Louisville Cardinals 77-55 on Saturday.
Tennessee (2-0), the No. 12 team in the country, came out sharp on both ends of the court, scoring the first 10 points of the game. The Cardinals (1-1) would not score until the 14:35 mark and were forced to play catch-up all day.
The Volunteers made that difficult thanks to 56.6 percent shooting on their end, while holding the hosts to just 26.7 percent.
While the visitors did commit 20 turnovers, they mitigated that by outrebounding the Cardinals 40-26 and enjoying a 40-10 scoring edge in the lane. The Cardinals primarily struggled from deep, connecting on just 5-of-23 3-point attempts in the half and shooting just 25.6 percent from beyond the arc for the contest.
Meanwhile, Tennessee made 10 of its 19 3-point attempts. Lanier, who transferred from North Florida in the offseason, went 3-for-6, while Zeigler hit on 4-of-7.
Zeigler’s layup with 3:18 remaining extended the Volunteers’ lead to 38-16, but Louisville cut that deficit to 40-26 by halftime.
Louisville would cut the lead to 47-38 with 13:17 remaining after back-to-back 3-pointers by Reyne Smith, but that would be the last time the Cardinals got within single digits. Tennessee pulled away again and led by as much as 69-43 with 6:38 remaining.
Zeigler, who had nine of his 11 turnovers in the first half, went 4-for-6 from the field, including 3-for-5 from the 3-point line, to score 12 points in the second half.
Smith led Louisville with 18 points, but he made shot just 5 of 13 from the field. Noah Waterman added 10.
Felix Okpara pitched in 10 points for Tennessee, going perfect in four shots from the field.
With Saturday’s win, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes recorded his 204th victory with the Volunteers, tying him with Don DeVoe for second all-time at the school.
–Field Level Media
