Three Thoughts: No. 1 Tennessee Smacks Arkansas, Wins 76-52

The Vols start 1-0 in SEC play with their lopsided victory over the Razorbacks.

Jan 04, 2025

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No. 1 Tennessee only trailed for 3:09 minutes on Saturday afternoon inside the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. It was a dominant showing for the usual suspects in Chaz Lanier, Igor Milicic Jr. and Zakai Zeigler. The trio accounted for 54 of the Vols’ 76 total points in the ball game as Tennessee is now 1-0 in conference play with a roadtrip to Gainesville to face the No. 10 Florida Gators who lost their first game of the season in Lexington to Kentucky before the Vols and Hawgs tipped off in Knoxville.

Let’s dive into my three thoughts following the Vols’ victory over Arkansas to move to 14-0 this season, the school’s best start in over a 100 years.

I suspect this is a sentence that I’m going to repeat often this season – Chaz Lanier makes it all look effortless on offense. It all happens so quickly for Lanier when he gets going. Whether it’s an elbow jumper or a quick catch-and-shoot three, Lanier piles up points for the Vols in a hurry and often. Lanier led Tennessee in scoring with 29, and it never felt like Lanier was forcing it. Lanier got going early in this game, as he hit a mid-range jumper and a quick three back-to-back to push the Vols’ lead to seven and extend Tennessee’s run to 11-0. He would hit another mid-range shot not long after as Tennessee got up double-digits early and never looked back. A lot of that has to do with Lanier and how lethal he is as a score for Tennessee both from deep and in the midrange. It’s silly to look at these endgame box scores and see Lanier was five-for-nine from deep with a 237 offensive rating for Tennessee. Lanier hit as many threes in this game as Milicic Jr., Zeigler and Jordan Gainey did combined. Lanier is exactly what this Tennessee offense has needed to avoid those scoring droughts of year’s past under head men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes. He doesn’t require a high usage rate to dominate the game, and will key for the Vols to escape SEC play with six or fewer losses this season and earn a No. 1 seed for the first time in school history this March.
It hasn’t been easy for Igor Milicic Jr. shooting the basketball thus far. Still, he made forty percent of his threes in this game which should help his confidence as the Vols are going need the Charlotte transfer to get going there from deep in SEC play. However, Milicic Jr. helps the Vols in so many other ways. In this game, Milicic Jr. registered a double-double and dominated the glass. He snagged 18 rebounds with 12 of them being offensive boards. Milicic Jr. is going to get that shot going, and today’s performance as a whole should help in that department but his versatility and toughness inside for the Vols continues to be huge for Tennessee. (Side note: Cade Phillips continues to dazzle on the boards as he snagged six rebounds in this game, with two being on the offensive glass. Without JP Estrella for the rest of the 2024-25 season, what Tennessee needed from the second-year player changed a bit. He’s the ultimate do-whatever-you-need role player off the bench for Barnes and played strong once again for the Vols inside against Arkansas.)
Tennessee didn’t really get tested in this basketball game. The Vols nearly held a good Arkansas team to under 50 points. They led for over 35 minutes of the ball game. They held Calipari’s team to 2-of-17 from deep in the second half. The Zakai-to-Okparka connection on the pick-and-roll was as dominant as ever. Jahmai Mashack and Gainey were elite defensively forcing six steals in total. Tennessee shot the ball well, they rebounded the ball well and they defended Arkansas well on the perimeter and inside. This was a stress-free victory for the Vols, but on Tuesday night Tennessee will face off against a top-10 Florida team that just lost their first game of the season. A perfect start for the Vols in conference play, but the first big test for UT begins in just a few days in Exactech Arena.

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