Tennessee’s successful transition into Southeastern Conference basketball play Saturday afternoon included the long-range accuracy of fifth-year senior guard Chaz Lanier.
The transfer from North Florida racked up 29 points during the 76-52 dismantling of No. 23 Arkansas inside the Food City Center, making 10-of-20 shots from the floor, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Lanier’s 20.3 points per game through top-ranked Tennessee’s 14-0 start ranks 14th nationally, and his 46.7% accuracy from long distance is 11th in the country.
Lanier already has 56 made attempts from 3-point range, with the 6-foot-5, 207-pounder’s average of 4.0 per game ranking second nationally.
“As a shooter, seeing shots go in is always good, and you’re building that confidence,” Lanier said Monday in a news conference. “It was a good start, and I’m just trying to build on it.”
Lanier’s good start was also a friendly start, but that will not be the case Tuesday night (7 on ESPN2) when the Vols visit Florida. The No. 8 Gators are 13-1 and coming off their first loss of the season, dropping their league opener 106-100 Saturday at Kentucky, which moved up four spots to No. 6 in Monday’s latest Associated Press poll.
Tennessee has not won in Gainesville since Jan. 12, 2019, losing twice since by a combined 39 points.
“Everybody talks about our physicality, but I think Florida is probably the most physical team I’ve seen all year at all five positions,” Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinsky said, “and they’re just as physical when they’re coming off the bench. Playing in that environment — you know the love that Florida has for Tennessee.
“We expect this to be a 15-round boxing match.”
Lanier signed with the Ospreys out of Nashville’s Ensworth School and is no stranger to Gainesville. Early in the 2021-22 season, he scored 8 points in 24 minutes during North Florida’s 85-55 loss to the Gators, an experience he described Monday as “a beatdown.”
Last season with the Ospreys, Lanier averaged 19.7 points per game and shot 44.0% from 3-point range, making him an attractive potential successor to Dalton Knecht, whose one season in Knoxville yielded an SEC championship and league player of the year honors.
Tennessee’s coaches have tried to stay away from the Knecht-Lanier comparisons, but Lanier isn’t making that easy.
“I think Chaz has the ability to make his jump shot work anywhere in the world,” Polinsky said. “When you watched Dalton play, you could tell that some of his shots would work at the next level. What has been impressive with Chaz is his ability to get rid of the ball with range and in traffic.”
Lanier’s 20.3 points per game is ahead of Knecht’s 15.1 average through last season’s SEC opener, but Knecht was about to explode. In Tennessee’s next six league games a year ago, Knecht averaged an eye-popping 31.8 points to thrust himself into the All-American landscape.
Whether or not Lanier can post that kind of surge remains to be seen, but his coaches and teammates believe that the quick release Polinsky referenced gives him a chance.
“It’s one of the quickest releases I’ve been around,” Vols head coach Rick Barnes said Saturday. “He gets rid of it, and it’s hard to guard, because obviously you don’t want to put a guy like that on the free-throw line with three (attempts). It goes back to him doing his work early — getting off screens and getting his hips turned quick. He’s not going to get much separation, so he needs to have that.”
Said senior point guard Zakai Zeigler: “As quick of a release he has and as good of a shooter he is, we want him to shoot it every time he’s just a little bit open. He is fun to watch. It’s also fun being a point guard, because that’s an easy opportunity to get an assist.”
Evans commits
Tennessee has picked up its seventh football commitment for the 2026 signing cycle, receiving a nonbinding pledge from three-star receiver Tyran Evans from Charlotte. The 6-3, 170-pounder is the No. 78 receiver nationally on the 247Sports.com composite rankings and the No. 508 overall prospect.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.