Tennessee senior guard Chaz Lanier had a Saturday afternoon homecoming he will never forget.
The former prep standout for Ensworth School in Nashville paced the No. 6 Volunteers with 17 points at Vanderbilt, but he had a shot blocked and missed a free throw in the final five seconds as the Commodores escaped with a 76-75 upset. Tennessee closed the game on a 9-0 run, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Commodores from improving to 15-3 overall in coach Mark Byington’s first season, which includes a 3-2 record in Southeastern Conference play.
Vanderbilt was picked to finish last in the SEC but is off to its best start in 15 seasons.
“I’m just so happy for our fans and our players,” Byington said afterward on the SEC Network. “We’re trying to build something here, and we’re trying to get people to believe. Our crowd was amazing today, and our players believed. We have tremendous respect for Tennessee, the things they’ve done and the team they are, and we’re trying to be a good team in the SEC.
“This league is brutal, and every game is taking years off of my life, but it’s great for us to have this moment to know that we can pull these games off.”