Knoxville, TN – The Tennessee men’s basketball team took down No. 23/RV Arkansas, 76-52, Saturday afternoon in front of a sold-out crowd at Food City Center in its first game of league play.
Top-ranked Tennessee (14-0, 1-0 SEC) matched the best start in program history, set 102 years ago in 1922-23, with the dominant triumph in which it led by as many as 27 and trailed for just 3:09. Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier led all scorers with a season-high 29 points, his third straight showing with 20-plus, for the victors.
The Volunteers scored 12 straight points in 5:24, including a 10-0 burst in the first 2:48, to take a 21-12 edge at the 8:38 mark of the opening half. They held Arkansas (11-3, 0-1 SEC) without a point for 6:11.
Tennessee extended the run to 14-1 in 6:25, going ahead by 10, 23-13, with 7:38 on the timer. It held the Razorbacks without a field goal for 7:06, inducing nine consecutive misses, as well as got 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from Lanier in that opening 12-plus minutes.
Arkansas closed within seven, but senior guard Zakai Zeigler scored eight points in a minute to spark a 15-5 burst that put the home team ahead by 17, 40-23, with 2:17 left after five straight makes from the floor. It retained a 15-point margin, 42-27, at the break.
The Volunteers posted a commanding 27-12 advantage on the glass in the opening half, including a 14-3 tally on the offensive end that led to a 7-0 cushion in second-chance points. They also conceded just six makes on the Razorbacks’ final 18 field goals of the half after they made their first four through six minutes.
Lanier connected on back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second frame to give Tennessee a then-game-best 19-point lead, 48-29, with 16:57 remaining. Arkansas responded with seven of the next eight points to make it 49-36 with 14:10 to go, but never got the deficit under a baker’s dozen.
The Volunteers regained full control by stretching the margin up to 18, 58-40, with 9:23 to play and continued to cruise from there. They scored nine straight points in 2:27 late in the frame to make it a 25-point cushion, 72-47, with 2:47 on the clock and eventually went up by a game-high 27, 76-49, with 57 ticks left. Arkansas scored the last basket to make it a 24-point final ledger.
Lanier, who posted the top point total by a Volunteer this season, shot 10-of-20 from the floor, tying a season high in makes, including 5-of-9 beyond the arc. The Nashville, Tennessee, native also made all four of his free throws.
Senior forward Igor Mili?i? Jr., tallied 13 points and a career-best 18 rebounds, the latter good for the highest total by a Tennessee player in nearly 11 years, since March 23, 2014. He added a career-high-tying five assists, one steal, one block and a 2-of-5 long-range clip in a season-high 36 minutes of action. The Rovinj, Croatia, native is the fifth SEC player—sixth occurrence—in the last 20 seasons (2005-25) to notch at least 13 points, 18 rebounds and five assists in a contest, including the only one to do so in league play.
Zeigler finished with 12 points, a game-best seven assists, five rebounds and a co-game-high three steals. Junior forward Felix Okpara added 10 points for the Volunteers.
Sophomore guard D.J. Wagner paced Arkansas with 17 points, seven of which came on a 3-of-3 clip in the first three minutes. Freshman guard Boogie Fland added 12 points in the setback, while no other Razorback reached even seven in the scoring column. The Volunteers limited junior forward Adou Thiero, who entered the weekend averaging a team-best 17.8 points per game, to just six points on 3-of-7 shooting.
In total, Tennessee held Arkansas to a 37.7 percent (20-of-53) ledger from the floor, including a 32.7 percent (16-of-49) mark over the final 36 minutes. The Volunteers shot 80.0 percent (12-of-15) at the stripe, while the visitors logged just a 46.2 percent (6-of-13) figure.
The 52 points for the Razorbacks marked their lowest total in nearly a year, dating to a 51-point showing January 24th, 2024, at Ole Miss. It marked just the third time in the last six seasons (2019-25) Arkansas has been limited to 52 or fewer points.
Tennessee, which led by double digits for the final 25:08, ended the win with a plus-22 mark, 51-29, on the glass, including a 24-9 tally on the offensive side of the floor. The two-dozen offensive boards put the Volunteers just two shy of a top-five total in program history, while the 51 total rebounds marked the team’s most since December 7th, 2022.
The 24-point triumph is Tennessee’s seventh-largest ever over a ranked opponent. It is the second year in a row the head coach Rick Barnes‘ team opened SEC play by beating a top-25 team by at least two-dozen points.
Next Up For UT Men’s Basketball
The Tennessee Vols basketball team is set to visit to No. 6/5 Florida Tuesday at 6:00pm CT, 7:00pm ET at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL, live on ESPN2.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
Tennessee Volunteers Postgame Notes
Saturday marked the 16th game in program history with Tennessee ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, as it moved to 14-2, including 13-1 in Barnes’ tenure.
The Volunteers also upped its record to 28-4 all-time while ranked top-three in the AP Poll, including 24-2 under Barnes.
Tennessee is still one of the only two undefeated teams in the country, alongside Oklahoma, and is the lone school unbeaten in both men’s and women’s basketball.
Tennessee improved to 8-2 in its last 10 games against Arkansas after dropping each of the prior six and has now won four straight versus the Razorbacks for the second time ever, improving to 27-22 in the all-time series.
Prior to beating Arkansas by 24-plus twice in the last 11 months, the largest margin of victory by either side in their first 47 meetings was 23 by the Razorbacks on February 5th, 1977, when they won 77-54 in Fayetteville.
Barnes is now 14-12 all-time versus Arkansas head coach John Calipari, the only active Division I head coach with more career wins than him, including 12-10 in the regular season.
The Volunteers have faced Calipari more than any other active coach, with this the 39th meeting, and own a 17-22 record against him.
Barnes now owns 184 wins over programs with a national championship, including 44 in his 10 years at Tennessee and five already—Louisville, Virginia, Baylor, Syracuse and Arkansas—this season.
Tennessee improved to 6-4 in SEC openers in the Barnes era, including 3-1 at home, and has now won three such games in a row.
Additionally, the Volunteers increased their record to 6-4 in SEC home openers under Barnes, with four such victories in a row.
Tennessee is now 30-22 in AP top-25 matchups under Barnes, as well as 20-10 in its last 30 games versus AP top-25 foes.
Barnes has led Tennessee to an 18-7 home record against AP top-25 opponents, including a 13-1 ledger in its last 14 such outings.
The Volunteers, who logged their 15th sellout in the last three seasons (2022-25), improved to 33-14 all-time in Food City Center sellouts, including 32-12 since the 2007-08 capacity reduction and 22-6 in Barnes’ 10-year tenure.
Tennessee also moved to 90-33 all-time when playing in front of 20,000-plus fans at Food City Center, including 31-9 under Barnes, with 25 of the latter 40 over the past four years (2021-25).
The Volunteers moved to 14-0 to begin a season for the second time in program history, alongside an equal start in 1922-23.
Tennessee now has its fourth winning streak of at least 14 games program history, joining a 19-game span in 2018-19, a 15-game stretch from 1914-15 to 1916-17 and a 14-game tally in 1922-23.
The dates of other two single-season winning streaks of at least 14 games for Tennessee are as follows: 19 from November 28th, 2018, to February 13th, 2019, and 14 from January 8th- February 20th, 2023.
The Volunteers improved to 36-6 over their last 42 games, with four of the six defeats by six points or fewer, in a stretch that dates to December 5th, 2023.
Tennessee has just six larger wins over an AP top-25 foe in program history: 90-64 (+26) against No. 22 Ole Miss on January 6th, 2024; 88-58 (+30) versus No. 25 Kentucky on February 16th, 2013; 84-57 (+27) against No. 23 Vanderbilt on February 10th, 2007; 105-76 (+29) versus seventh-ranked Auburn on January 25th, 2000; 91-56 (+35) against No. 23 Florida on February 10th, 1999; and 87-59 (+28) against ninth-ranked Kentucky on January 22nd, 1968.
Arkansas posted 10 blocks in the game, the first time a Tennessee opponent reached double digits since Jan. 20, 2016, when Vanderbilt had 10.
Aided by its plus-15 rebounding margin, Tennessee took 13 more shots than Arkansas in the first half, attempting 37 and allowing just 24.
Only twice in the last six seasons (2019-25) has Arkansas scored 52 or fewer points: 51 at Ole Miss on January 24th, 2024, and 51 versus Auburn on Jan. 6, 2024.
Over the last seven seasons (2018-25), the Razorbacks now have just five losses by 24-plus points, two of which are to Tennessee, as Saturday’s decisions joins four others: 92-63 (-29) versus Tennessee on February 14th, 2024; 77-51 (-26) on January 24th, 2024, at Ole Miss; 83-51 (-32) on January 6th, 2024, against Auburn; and 90-59 (-31) at Alabama on January 16th, 2021.
Tennessee last had greater than 50 rebounds on Dec. 7, 2022, when pulled down 56 in a victory over Eastern Kentucky.
Saturday marked the second time in 2024-25 the Volunteers have amassed 20-plus offensive rebounds, as they had exactly 20 in a Nov. 27, 2024, win against UT Martin.
The Volunteers have held a halftime advantage in 13 of their 14 outings this season, including a margin of seven-plus points 11 times, double digits nine times, 12-plus seven times, 14-plus six times and 23-plus thrice.
Tennessee has conceded 35 or fewer first-half points in 13 of its 14 outings thus far, including 29 or fewer on nine occasions and 21 or fewer fur times.
The Volunteers held a lead of 18-plus points in 13 of its 14 contests this season, including by 26 in all but four, and still has not faced a deficit larger than eight.
Across its 14 games thus far, Tennessee has led for 486:24 and trailed for just 46:48 of a possible 560 minutes.
Thirteen of Tennessee’s 14 wins are by 13-plus points, with eight by at least 22, four by at least 35 and two by 40-plus.
Zeigler’s assist on the opening possession, just 15 seconds into the contest, upped his career mark to 578, moving him past C.J. Watson (2002-06) for sole possession of second place on the program’s all-time leaderboard and he ended the day with a career total of 584.
Mili?i?, who pulled down his 10th rebound just 33 seconds into the second half, reached double-digit boards for the 21st time as a collegian, including the seventh in just 14 games at Tennessee and sixth in the past eight outings.
Mili?i? recorded the 14th double-double of his career, including his seventh in his first season as a Volunteer.
Before grabbing 18 boards Saturday, Mili?i?’s prior career best was 16 on March 15th, 2024, against Temple in the AAC Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, while he was at Charlotte.
Mili?i?’s 18 rebounds marked the highest total by a Volunteer in Barnes’ tenure and the top figure since March 23, 2014, when Jarnell Stokes hit that same number versus Mercer in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32 in Raleigh, NC.
Before Mili?ic, the last Volunteer with 18-plus rebounds in SEC play was Jarnell Stokes nearly 12 years ago, on January 26th, 2013, against Alabama.
Over the last 20 seasons (2005-25), Mili?i? is the fourth Volunteer—eighth occurrence—to log 18-plus rebounds in a single game, alongside Wayne Chism (twice), Jeronne Maymon (twice) and Jarnell Stokes (twice).
The five assists for Mili?i? matched the career high he set twice previously, first on Feb. 6, 2024, at South Florida during his Charlotte tenure and, most recently, November 13th, 2024, versus Montana.
There are just five other instances—all in non-conference play—of an SEC player amassing at least 13 points, 18 rebounds and five assists in an outing over the last 20 seasons (2005-25): two by Auburn’s Johni Broome (December 14th, 2024, versus Ohio State in Atlanta and November 26th, 2024, against North Carolina Maui, Hawaii), and one each by Missouri’s Kobe Brown (November 29th, 2021, versus non-DI Paul Quinn), LSU’s Ben Simmons (November 23rd, 2015, against Marquette in Brooklyn, NY) and Tennessee’s Jarnell Stokes (March 23rd, 2014, against Mercer in Raleigh, NC, in the NCAA Tournament).
Only two of the above five players added at least one steal and one block to their line: Broome (versus Ohio State) and Brown.
Saturday marked the 12th time Lanier has scored 25-plus points as a collegian, including the fourth at Tennessee.
Lanier has connected on at least a trio of 3-pointers in 12 of 14 outings as a Volunteer, with four-plus in nine and five-plus in five.
Saturday marked the fifth time Lanier has connected on double-digit field goals in a game as a collegian and he tied his high as a Volunteer, set November 21st, 2024, in a 10-of-23 performance against Virginia in the Baha Mar Championship in Nassau, Bahamas.
The prior top point total by a Volunteer this season was 26 by Lanier, recorded both December 3rd, 2024, versus Syracuse and in the aforementioned November 21st outing against Virginia.
