Stock Report: Chaz Lanier & Igor Milicic Jr. Shine For Vols In Win Over Razorbacks

Which Tennessee men's hoops players saw their stock rise and fall to kick off SEC play for the Vols?

Jan 05, 2025

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No. 1 Tennessee improved to 14-0 (1-0) with their victory over the Razorbacks on Saturday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Arkansas maintained a lead over the Vols for just three minutes as head men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes’ team coasted to a blowout victory over John Calipari’s Razorbacks.

Let’s dive into which Vols saw their stock rise and saw their stock fall after the victory in Knoxville yesterday afternoon.

Stock Up: Chaz Lanier

The North Florida transfer continues to make it look effortless on the offensive end. Lanier and former Tennessee star Dalton Knecht will continue to get compared to one another long after the former enters the League as Tennessee’s elite transfer portal additions for Barnes in back-to-back seasons. With fourteen games in the books, the biggest difference between the two as offensive flamethrowers stems from the feeling you get watching the two of them create on the offensive end. Last year, it felt like Knecht had a high usage and a high-scoring output. This year, it feels like Lanier maintains a low usage and still has a high-scoring output. However, the former had a 32.6 usage rate last year at Tennessee, while the latter has a 30.7 usage rate, per Sports-Reference. It’s not all that different through fourteen games when you look at those usage rates and three-point output, even if it feels a bit different in the moment.

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In this game on Saturday afternoon, Lanier had a 63 percent eFG% – around 50 percent in the NBA is considered a good percentage – and connected on over half of his three-point attempts that nearly hit the double-digit mark. Lanier gobbles up seven or eight points in a hurry like he did early in the first half against Arkansas on Saturday. He led the Vols with 29 points and it never felt like he was forcing it on the offensive end. It never does with Lanier.

He also played 35 minutes for the Vols and his starting backcourt mate Zakai Zeigler played 38 minutes. The duo led the team in plus/minus stats for the game. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more dynamic and complimentary backcourt in this conference between these two offensively and defensively. This is cheating a bit, but this backcourt, along with Jordan Gainey, continues to see their stock rise with how well the trio fits next to another.

Stock Down: Darlinstone Dubar

Tennessee is a well-oiled machine across the board. It’s a team that knows who they are and a team filled with guys who know exactly what they’re supposed to do and know exactly how to do that very thing well. However, Hofstra transfer Darlinstone Dubar is still figuring it out for Barnes and the Vols. The talented wing was active in screen-setting and cutting to the hoop on Saturday afternoon, but he went scoreless in his eight minutes on the floor against Arkansas. Without Cameron Carr, and nine scholarship athletes available including Dubar, the latter should continue to play for this team. You know he has the ability to fill it up for the Vols, as he shot 40 percent from deep in his previous two seasons at Hofstra. He’s hitting just 27 percent of his threes right now, but if he can find his footing in this rotation and get up a few more shots from deep a night he should be able to help the Vols with conference play underway. There might be some nights this winter in conference play where Tennessee needs him to, too.

Stock Up: Igor Milicic Jr.

Milicic Jr. just fits with this team. The confidence seems to be returning with his shot, too, as he connected on two of his five three-point attempts on Saturday. If the the Charlotte transfer rebounds like he did against the Hawgs during conference play, the Vols are going to be even more difficult to beat on any given night. Milicic Jr. at the five unlocks so much for the Vols offensively, and you saw it Saturday as the team continues to fill it up from deep as 30 of their 76 points came from shots beyond the arc. Tennessee needed Milicic Jr. to flip a switch once conference play got here and it looks like he has, which is huge for the Vols.

Stock Down: Depth

This won’t pop up each week, but it did pop up this week for the Vols. Tennessee forward Cade Phillips got banged up a bit with his shoulder in the game on Saturday vs. Arkansas in the first half. With JP Estrella out for the season and Carr gone from the team, the team is thin. If the Vols can keep the current eight rotation players available the rest of the way, the sky continues to be the limit for Tennessee. In instances where Phillips gets shaken up, though, it can get a bit scary in a hurry for the Vols’ rotation. Phillips has made the leap for Tennessee this season and was electric on the boards again in his 11 minutes of action. He and Dubar accounted for nearly twenty minutes of on-court action against Arkansas and Tennessee needs them both available the rest of the way.

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