FINAL:
Tennessee – 70
Georgia – 41
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The SEC might just be the best conference in College Basketball this season, so no team is an easy out. Tennessee hosted Georgia Wednesday night with a matchup against Texas looming in the weekend SEC-Big12 Challenge.
Tennessee is used to being the team that comes out hot this season, but that didn’t happen in this one. The Vols started off 1-5 from the field, allowing Georgia to build a 4-0 lead. At the first TV timeout Tennessee was down 6-4. The Vols went on to dominate the next segment of the game, going on a 9-0 run and turning The Bulldogs over five times in a seven possession stretch. While Georgia was able to do some damage control and keep it close, it wasn’t for long as Tennessee went on another 9-0 run forcing a five and a half minute scoring drought for The Dawgs. The Vols found themselves up ten when the drought broke with a Bulldog free throw, and then extended it to a 14-1 run making it 33-18 with 3:30 to go in the first half. Going into the break Tennessee had held Georgia to 33% from the field, forced The Bulldogs into ten turnovers with six steals, and led the game 35-22.
Tennessee began to flex in the second half with more of the same domination from The Vols
it’s pretty
📺 SEC Network
📲 https://t.co/UBQrUX1Hww pic.twitter.com/qXATEZKEgm— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) January 26, 2023
the 5’9 to 7’1 connection
📺 SEC Network
📲 https://t.co/UBQrUX1Hww pic.twitter.com/p7Guoi5DX0— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) January 26, 2023
The Vols continued to pour it on as Georgia’s shooting percentage continued to fall. There were no easy points for The Dawgs, who couldn’t buy a basket, and at the 6:50 mark it had fallen as low as 28% from the field.
While the highlights will show the offense, the nation leading defense was suffocating from Tennessee. The Vols tallied 12 steals as Georgia turned the ball over 20 times and scored just 41 points in a 70-41 Tennessee win.
Zakai Zeigler and Terry Roberts led all scorers with 11 points. Matthew-Alexander Moncrief and Josiah-Jordan James led all players with seven rebounds. Zeigler led all players with seven assists, while Justin Hill led Georgia with three. According to Tennessee Stats and Info on Twitter, The Vols have now recorded 11 wins by 20 or more points which is tied for the most in a single season in program history in just 20 total games.
This is what Tennessee Head Coach, Rick Barnes, had to say post-game via The Vol Report on Twitter:
“We’ve got an unselfish team.”
“Offensively when we’re moving the ball, sharing the ball, that’s when we play our best basketball.”
“We’re moving the ball and we’re looking to make the pass as opposed to catching the ball and being pre-determined (to shoot the ball). …Move the ball, get our spacing, we’re going to get a good shot.”
Wes Rucker of GoVols247 provided Twitter with this gem of a quote from the head coach of the best defense in America…
#Vols coach Rick Barnes: We’ve still got a ways to go defensively. We think we can be a lot better defensively.
(wait wut?)
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) January 26, 2023
Tennessee’s next game is against Texas at home at 5:00pm on Saturday in the SEC-Big12 Challenge.
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