Tennessee turns the table on the Dawgs in the second half to dominate against the top-25 Georgia team.

Ellie Williamson

Jan 15, 2025

It was the tale of two halves. The first half was controlled by a UGA defense that slowed the roll on shot percentages for Tennessee. They did so by holding  Tennessee to just 27 percent shooting while claiming 11 defensive rebounds. 

To start the second half Georgia was ahead by 1. However, fueled by a gritty performance that pushed Senior guard  Zakai Zeigler to hold the new program record for steals (213) followed up with a team-high 19 points from Jordan Gainey, the Vols ran away with a 13-1 run during the second half that turned the tables on the visiting Dawgs as Tennessee secured another home win in SEC conference play. 

Over the last five seasons, since 2020-21, the Volunteers are 67-7 (.904) on their home court.

The SEC leading scorer, Chaz Lanier was silenced during the game shooting just 2-16 FG and 1 of 9 from the arch. Chaz scoring just 5 pts on 32 min of play may be alarming to some. However, this Tennessee team combined with 4 different shooters each sharing double digits to the final score. 

Cade Phillips continued to put his mark on this offense. His efficiency for double digits (10pts, 5-6 fg)  was almost perfect. Joined by Jahmai Mashack (11pts, 5-5 fg, 1-1 3fg)  Zakai Zeigler (16pts, 5-14 fg, 4-8 3fg, 2-2 ft), and Jordan Gainey (19pts, 6-12fg, 1-4 3fg, 6-6ft) the Vols were able to continue in their winning ways.

Tennessee has the SEC's best record versus AP top-25 opponents over the last four seasons (2021-25). Auburn (13-10

.565) ranks second, while no one else has a mark above .530.

It was a dominating defense that once again proved itself vital to secure a win against a conference opponent. Tennessee led the game with 35 total rebounds. Igor Miličić Jr again led the team with 9 of those. 

Tennessee, through 1/12/25, ranked third in KenPom adjusted defensive efficiency (88.1), just shy of Houston (86.3) and Duke (87.8).

Tennessee now goes on the road to face Vanderbilt. Stay tuned to The Players Lounge as we share more this week from the next episode of  ‘More Than Hoops’ featuring show hosts, Jahmai, Cade, and JG.