The SEC has been the best conference in college basketball all season long, and it has been a pleasure to watch some of the best teams in the nation battle each other week after week. On Saturday, another heavyweight matchup delivered the goods as No. 6 Tennessee went on the road and knocked off No. 7 Texas A&M 77-69.
This win marked the 50th of Rick Barnes’ career against an opponent ranked in the top 10 in the AP poll, making him the 11th coach to get to that number. After the game, the Tennessee head coach showed love to his team for its performance on the road, via ESPN.
“Really proud of our guys today where, again, I thought they were very resilient,” Barnes said. “We didn’t get off to the start we wanted, but again, that happens. But we kept our poise.”
Tennessee struggled as a team on the offensive end of the floor early in the game, but Chaz Lanier was there to keep the Volunteers in the game. The North Florida transfer scored 22 of his season-high 30 points in the first half and knocked down six 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes, which lifted Tennessee to a four-point lead at the break despite poor shooting from the rest of the team.
The Volunteers leaned on their defense throughout a back-and-forth second half that saw the two teams trade leads throughout. In the end, Zakai Zeigler knocked down a massive 3-pointer in the final minute to give Tennessee the separation it needed to close out the win.
This is a massive win for Tennessee and its hopes of getting a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Barnes and company already have one of the best strength of schedule numbers in the country playing in a loaded SEC, and wins like this one against Texas A&M are very impressive on their resume.
This Tennessee basketball program still has never been to the Final Four and has only made the Elite Eight twice, but this team feels like the kind of squad that has chance to break that barrier. Wins like Saturday’s are exactly why.
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