Now that was a starting five.
The Tennessee Volunteers had become the Dalton Knecht Show in recent games, which was not a concern until Jonas Aidoo, Josiah-Jordan James and Zakai Zeigler combined to go 3-of-17 from the floor during last Tuesday night’s 63-59 home loss to South Carolina. The No. 5 Vols (16-5, 6-2 SEC) bucked that image brilliantly Saturday night in a 103-92 triumph over No. 10 Kentucky (15-6, 5-4) inside Rupp Arena, leading wire to wire and setting a program record for the most points scored in a road game against a ranked opponent.
“We talked after the South Carolina game for an hour-and-a-half or two hours, and we talked about how we felt we put a lot of pressure on DK and how it’s not going to work like that,” said Zeigler, who scored or assisted on 60 of the 103 points, after Saturday’s win. “We know DK is a good player and that we need him to be aggressive, but when times get hard, we can’t just sit around and watch him. He’ll get burned out if that’s the case, and we won’t have him for the end of games.
“We have to be just as aggressive as him, and we did that.”
James and Zeigler each tallied a career-high 26-point performance, with James playing turnover-free in his 31 minutes and with Zeigler dishing out 13 assists to become the first Tennessee player in at least a quarter-century to have 25 points and 10 assists in the same game. Aidoo produced quite the thorough evening with 11 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots, while Santiago Vescovi’s 11-point showing contained a 3-of-4 effort from 3-point range.