Lanier, No. 2 Tennessee breeze past No. 15 Wofford
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chaz Lanier scored 29 points on 11-of-22 shooting and No. 2 seed Tennessee never trailed in a 77-62 victory over Wofford on Thursday night that sent the Volunteers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season.
Coach Rick Barnes' Vols (28-7) will play either No. 7 seed UCLA or 10th-seeded Utah State on Saturday in the Midwest Region as they try to reach a third straight Sweet 16.
Zakai Zeigler had 12 points and 12 assists. He became Tennessee's career assist leader after setting the single-season record for assists at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
No. 15 seed Wofford was making its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance as the Southern Conference Tournament champion but ended a run of reaching four straight second rounds. The Terriers' last first-round loss was in 2010.
Jackson Sivills led the Terriers (19-16) with 15 points. Corey Tripp scored 14, Jeremy Lorenz 12 and Justin Bailey 10.
This was Lanier's tournament debut after the Nashville native transferred home after four years at North Florida. He made a quick impression after Tennessee took the lead 13 seconds on a 3-pointer by Jahmai Mashack. Lanier reeled off 13 points with a trio of 3s within his first 11 minutes of play.
That helped Tennessee jump out to a 22-8 lead, though the Terriers kept fighting even as the Vols beat them for the ninth time and first in this tournament. Tennessee led 36-27 at halftime. Wofford got within 48-40 with 13:33 left on a 3 by Lorenz.
Lanier scored seven of the next eight for Tennessee, which pushed its lead to 17 and closed it out with little stress.