No. 6 Tennessee hits the highway to face Vanderbilt on Saturday and doesn’t have to return far into its historical past to appreciate the risks of a visit to Nashville.
It will be the most important dwelling recreation of the 12 months for the Commodores (14-3, 2-2 SEC), who’ve misplaced the final two within the sequence towards the Volunteers (16-1, 3-1). However 2023 is just not all that way back that Vanderbilt cannot bear in mind the enjoyment of a victory within the in-state sequence.
Vanderbilt delivered a 66-65 victory over Tennessee at dwelling in February of 2023 to spark a 10-1 run that spanned into the SEC match.
The Commodores acquired a three-point play from Devin McGlockton with 0.6 seconds remaining in Wednesday’s 66-63 dwelling win over South Carolina. AJ Hoggard added crew highs in factors (14) and assists (4).
Inside minutes of that victory, consideration had already turned to the Vols, with McGlockton and Hoggard — each of their first years at Vanderbilt after transferring from Boston School and Michigan State, respectively — requested about their ideas on the rivalry.
“Me, I am simply treating it how I normally deal with Michigan State vs. Michigan — we do not like them they usually don’t love us,” Hoggard stated.
Mentioned McGlockton: “I do know it will be severe. I went to the (Tennessee-Vanderbilt) soccer recreation and it was fairly intense.”
The Vols blew open an in depth recreation early within the second half with Georgia on Tuesday, getting 19 factors from Jordan Gainey in a 74-56 dwelling win.
Tennessee has been on the highway to restoration following a disastrous 73-43 loss at Florida on Jan. 7. The Vols additionally received their solely highway recreation since, incomes a 74-70 victory at Texas 4 days later.
There stay lingering issues over a capturing stoop for Chaz Lanier, a Nashville native who’s Tennessee’s main scorer at 18.2 factors per recreation. Lanier was 2 of 16 from the ground towards Georgia, 3 of 11 towards Texas and three of 16 towards Florida, leaving him with 18.6-percent capturing over the three video games. He’s additionally 3 of 34 from 3-point vary within the stretch.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes stated he expects the downturn to go.
“The very best of the most effective, I’ve seen them undergo some interval the place they battle to shoot,” Barnes stated after the Georgia recreation. “It isn’t the best factor on the earth.”
Each groups have depth and expertise within the backcourt.
Tennessee level guard Zakai Zeigler (12.1 factors, 7.5 assists) led a second-half offensive surge towards Georgia to complete with 16 factors, seven assists and simply two turnovers. Zeigler additionally picked up a career-best six steals to ascertain a program document of 215 in his profession.
Gainey (11.6 factors), who has come off the bench in each recreation, has taken cost on offense when wanted. The Georgia contest marked his tenth double-figure scoring recreation.
A key to the result would be the matchup of the 6-foot-7 McGlockton (10.9 factors, 8.2 rebounds) for Vanderbilt towards Tennessee’s larger frontcourt led by 6-10 Igor Milicic Jr. (10.4 factors, 8.6 rebounds) and 6-11 Felix Okpara (6.9 factors, 6.2 rebounds).
–Discipline Degree Media
