Exactly what Rick Barnes desired from his group. The Tennessee Vols began their 2025 March Madness campaign on Thursday night. Although the game was closer than we anticipated in the second half, UT, the No. 2 seed in the Midwest, defeated Wofford, the No. 15 seed, 77-62.
With a date with either UCLA or Utah State imminent, the Vols playmakers are officially moving on to the second round. On Thursday night, the two teams will also play, but not until after this piece has been written.
However, Tennessee’s attention will be on punching its way into the Sweet Sixteen. Our primary conclusions from the victory over Wofford are included in this article, along with the Player of the Game’s performance:
- In the victory, Chaz Lanier once again excelled for Tennessee.
Chaz Lanier had a memorable day during Sunday’s SEC Tournament Championship Game loss to Florida. Although he started out a little hot, he ended up finishing with just 11 points. He fouled out as well, which made things worse for him. To boost his confidence for March Madness, he needed a bounce-back game, and that’s exactly what occurred. Lanier scored 14 points in the first half and was outstanding. He continued to light up the court at the beginning of the second half, picking up exactly where he left off. The senior scored 29 points that evening. Chaz, please do more of the same. - In this one, Zakai Zeigler created Vols history in Tennessee.
It will be a sad day for Zakai Zeigler when he must bid adieu to Knoxville and the Tennessee basketball team. Throughout his career, Zeigler has been terrific for the Vols, and against the Terriers, he further cemented his legacy. PGZ alone at the summit Zakai Zeigler has more assists than any other player in Tennessee basketball history. Twitter: https://qrvvNxcWjk. โ March 20, 2025, Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops)
Zeigler became Tennessee’s all-time assists leader in the first half and finished with 12 assists for the evening. He will be remembered as one of the greatest point guards the program has ever had. ZZ can enjoy all the praise he’s receiving for the time being, but more is on the way. - The second half was made exciting by Wofford.
Anything can happen in the NCAA Tournament. The Vols, however, had numerous chances to blow this game away much sooner, but they let Wofford keep it a little closer than most would have liked. Nobody loved it when Wofford repeatedly reduced its deficit to less than double digits. Fortunately, Lanier was prepared to continue producing large buckets, and Zeigler and others followed suit. Barnes and company can’t just count on Lanier to play out of this world going forward, even though he was on fire. This club still has to be a little more reliable on defence and limit the number of second-chance opportunities they give up. It will have to be cleared up against UCLA or Utah State.
