Tennessee basketball is heading into the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 77-62 win over Wofford in the first round
Tennessee’s offense was clicking throughout the night, and when the Vols were on, the Terriers had no answers. Wofford couldn’t slow down the Vols at certain points throughout the game, especially when it came to Chaz Lanier.
The Vols’ senior guard finished the night with 29 points in an explosive night on the offensive end of the court, shooting 11 for 22 from the field and 6 for 13 from three-point range.
Tennessee struggled to find points in the first half’s final minutes, allowing Wofford to go into halftime with a single-digit deficit.
The defense wasn’t perfect throughout the night, with the Vols struggling at times to limit Wofford’s shot attempts and clean looks at the basket, but a lot of that was covered up thanks to a strong offensive performance from Lanier and company.
Wofford’s offense offers many three-point shooting opportunities. While that has helped Wofford in March so far, the Vols did a good job forcing some bad three-point shots throughout the night to mitigate the Terrier’s scoring from three-point range.
Vols fans were waiting for Tennessee to pull away from Wofford the same way they had done a dozen times this year against similar opponents, but it didn’t happen until the final few minutes of the game.
Tennessee stretched out its lead, but Wofford came back to bring it down to single digits. Tennessee’s pressure on the Terriers was too much, and they pulled away in the game’s final minutes.
Wofford’s ability to keep the game within striking distance forced the Vols to continue playing aggressively on both ends of the courts, which could help going into the next round, knowing Tennessee was forced to compete in a full 40-minute game.
The Terriers’ relentlessness wasn’t enough to overcome the double-digit deficit they faced throughout most of the second half. Tennessee will now look to Saturday when they will face the UCLA and Utah State winner.
