Tennessee takes the new No. 1 in the rankings in a duel with Miami

With five non-conference games remaining on his team’s schedule, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes has prepared the newest No. 1-ranked team in the country for the rigors of Southeastern Conference competition.

The Volunteers (8-0) return to action on Tuesday night when they take their top seed with them to New York City to face Miami in the Jimmy V Classic.

Tennessee has overwhelmed its opponents this season and its early run earned the team the No. 1 spot in the polls after previous No. 1 Kansas lost twice since Wednesday.

The Volunteers’ closest margin of victory was a 15-point win over then-No. 13 Baylor on Nov. 22 in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas title game. In the 77-62 win, Tennessee led 47-20 at halftime and was never in danger, even though it was outscored 42-30 by Baylor in the second half.

Transfer guard Chaz Lanier, who traveled from North Florida, showed off his shooting skills in the Bahamas and shined again last Tuesday with a 96-70 home win over Syracuse in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

Lanier, a 3-point specialist from Nashville, was 4 of 10 from deep and scored a total of 26 points as the Volunteers used a 10-0 run in the first half to take a 45-35 lead at halftime , and never let up against the Orange.

Lanier made 44.0 percent of his 241 attempts from 3-point range last season for North Florida, averaging 19.7 points per game.

Lanier praised teammate Zakai Zeigler for his ability to fit into the role for the Volunteers.

“He just makes the game a lot easier,” Lanier said. “He is a leader on and off the field and in the locker room. He just imparts his knowledge to me and gives me great insight into the game.”

With a 15-17 record after reaching the Final Four two years ago, the Hurricanes (3-6) look more like the 2023-24 squad than the one that reached a national semifinal game in 2023 before losing to eventual national champion UConn.

Miami was on a six-game losing streak heading into Tuesday’s game.

To make matters worse, coach Jim Larranaga’s team suffered its most recent loss Saturday in the Hurricanes’ Atlantic Coast Conference opener in Miami, trailing by one point at halftime and losing 65-55 to Clemson.

Miami connected on just 41.1 percent of its shots and was 4 of 25 from 3-point range. Leading scorer Nijel Pack (14.1 points) went scoreless and missed all seven of his shot attempts, each of them coming from beyond the 3-point line.

“We tried to get him going (but it was) just one of those nights,” Larranaga said of Pack, who is shooting 37.5 percent from distance. “I would say you have to give credit to (Clemson’s) Jaeden Zackery because he’s a little taller than Nijel but weighs 30 or 40 pounds more and is very physical.”

In each of the last two seasons, Larranaga has seen a continuity problem that has led to defeats.

“We had a lot of injuries (last season) so the chemistry between us was very poor even though we had players returning from the Final Four team,” the coach said. “This year we are missing a key player in Kiree Huie. We need another big guy to bounce back.”

–Field level media