Not many things are better at making a top-ranked college basketball team temporarily lose focus like a nonconference game against a mid-major opponent two days before Christmas.
Tennessee learned this Monday.
The Vols trailed by six points after 20 minutes against a Middle Tennessee team that entered ranked 129th in the NET. They weren’t on the ropes, exactly. But they were at least in need of a nice second half to avoid taking their first loss of the season. Good for them, they got it in the form of a 48-24 final-half beatdown that allowed Tennessee to win 82-64, improve to 12-0 and remain No. 1 in Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings for the 20th consecutive day.
UT is 12-0 for the first time since the 1922-23 season.
Chaz Lanier led the Vols in scoring for the eighth time, finishing with 23 points and four rebounds while making five of the 10 3-pointers he attempted. The 6-foot-4 transfer from North Florida is now averaging a team-high 19.3 points and shooting a career-best 47.4% from 3 on 7.9 attempts per contest. He’s a real candidate, probably just behind Auburn’s Johni Broome, to emerge as SEC Player of the Year. If Lanier does it, he’ll be the second straight Tennessee player to secure the honor following Dalton Knecht, another mid-major transfer, last season.
Tennessee won’t play again until it hosts Norfolk State on New Year’s Eve inside the Food City Center. After that, it’s the SEC opener against John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks that will conclude a four-game homestand.
