Chaz Lanier poured in 23 points, 19 of them in a dominating first half, as No. 8 Tennessee defeated Texas 83-72 on Friday afternoon in a Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal clash in Nashville.
Tennessee (26-6), the fourth seed in the tournament, advances to play No. 3 Auburn, the top-seeded team in this event, in the semifinals on Saturday. Thirteenth-seeded Texas (19-15) will have to sweat out the next few days before learning if it has earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament that begins next week.
The Volunteers led by just three points at halftime but expanded their advantage to 65-50 on a free throw by Zakai Zeigler with 9:54 to play.
The Longhorns closed to within 75-65 when Chendall Weaver converted two free throws with 3:43 left. Texas would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way, eventually succumbing to the effects of playing its third game in as many days.
Zeigler finished with 19 points, all in the second half, with Jahmai Mashack scoring 13 and Igor Milicic Jr. adding 12 points for Tennessee.
Jordan Pope and Kadin Shedrick had 14 points apiece to lead the Longhorns. Tre Johnson, the SEC Freshman of the Year and the conference’s leading scorer in the regular season, finished with 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting.
The Volunteers led from the opening tip and Lanier’s layup with 11:14 to play in the half pushed the margin to 21-14. Texas responded with a layup by Tramon Mark, a jumper from Johnson and a basket from Pope to pull within a point with 9:10 left before halftime.
Tennessee still led by five after Lanier drove the lane for a bucket with 22 seconds remaining but the Longhorns fired back, getting a jumper from Mark at the horn to pull within 41-38 at the break.
Lanier had 19 points by halftime on 8-of-11 shooting from the floor. The Longhorns countered with a more balanced attack led by Mark’s eight points in the half.
–Field Level Media
