Tennessee basketball played as bad of a first half as they have all year before Zakai Zeigler’s remarkable second half lifted the Vols to an 81-76 victory over Vanderbilt.
Here’s three quick takeaways on how Tennessee got it done.
Tennessee Comes Out Flat
Rick Barnes spent much of his last two press conferences talking about Tennessee basketball’s defensive breakdowns against Kentucky and how the Vols had to eliminate the mental errors.
Tennessee responded by coming out as sluggish as possible with a myriad of defensive breakdowns early in the game. The opening possessions of the game told the story. Jahmai Mashack turned the ball over and then fouled Chris Manon as he finished a transition layup.
The Vols’ defense was terrible in the opening minutes with Vanderbilt scoring on nine of its first 11 possessions. Sure, Vanderbilt hit some perimeter shots and was doing a strong job executing. But Tennessee was not forcing Vanderbilt into tough shots.
The Commodores took advantage of Tennessee’s lack luster defense and their way to 44 first half points on a jarring 1.517 points per possession. That uninspired performance from Tennessee allowed Vanderbilt to put them in a major hole and take a 13-point halftime lead.
More From RTI: LIVE Updates, Score, Notes: For Game Two Of No. 4 Tennessee Baseball vs. Hofstra
Tennessee Flips The Script At Halftime
After playing completely unenergized in the first half, Tennessee came out with a completely different energy and juice in the second half. Even though Tennessee failed to score its first three possessions of the second half, the change was evident.
Tennessee played with a much different intensity on the defensive end. Even on the offensive end, they played with much more force. They just missed some open shots and did a much better job on the offensive glass.
When Vanderbilt hit shots in the second half they were almost always well defended, something that was not the case in the first half.
After Vanderbilt outscored Tennessee 44-31 in the first half, the Vols outscored Vanderbilt 26-11 in the first 11:15 of the second half to take their first lead of the game. That put the game on even footing for a well balanced final home stretch of the game.
Zakai Zeigler Sparks Vols’ Offense In Second Half
Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler was easy to miss in the first half which isn’t often said about the senior. But Zeigler took just two shots offensively and didn’t disrupt Vanderbilt’s offense like he usually does to opponents.
In the second half, there was no missing Zeigler as he dictated the game with what he did on the offensive end. Zeigler scored all 22 of his points in the second half on an impressive seven-of-nine shooting from the field.
The 5-foot-9 point guard hit some massive shots down the stretch and finished the second half with three made triples. That was most prevalent on a three possession stretch in the game’s final minutes.
Zeigler drove to the hoop and scored, got fouled on a shot at the rim and made both free throws to take the lead and finally crossed his defender to the ground before finding Jahmai Mashack for a wide open three-pointer that he drilled.
Then with Tennessee leading by two points with 20 seconds to go, Zeigler made a tough finish to give the Vols a two-possession lead.
Zeigler did have four assists in the first half but he added four more in the second half to finish the game with 22 points and eight assists.
Final Stats
Up Next
Tennessee is off this upcoming midweek before traveling to College Station to face Texas A&M next Saturday. Tipoff from Reed Arena is at noon ET and ESPN is broadcasting the game.
