KNOXVILLE — Tennessee provided a closing run of its own this week, and just in time.
The No. 5 Volunteers avoided what would have been their worst loss of the season, outscoring Vanderbilt 12-6 in the final three minutes to prevail 81-76 Saturday afternoon before a sellout crowd of 21,678 inside the Food City Center. Tennessee was able to avenge its 76-75 loss at Vanderbilt on Jan. 18 and bounced back from Tuesday night’s 75-64 setback at Kentucky, when the Wildcats closed on a 17-4 surge.
Tennessee trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half but improved to 21-5 overall and to 8-5 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Commodores fell to 17-8 and 5-7.
“The guys who we expect to close games out and be smart for us did it,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “The mistakes we made the other night we didn’t make today. We couldn’t afford to, or else we would have lost again.”
Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier led the Vols with 22 and 21 points, respectively, with Zeigler’s driving layup with 19 seconds to play giving Tennessee an 80-76 lead. Tyler Nickel missed a 3-pointer on Vanderbilt’s ensuing possession, and a Lanier free throw capped the scoring.