Talk about a pre-Thanksgiving feast.
The No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers consumed the competition at the Continental Tire Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas, following up Thursday night's 64-42 hammering of Virginia with Friday night's 77-62 rout of No. 13 Baylor.
Vols fifth-year senior guard and North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier continued his scintillating start to the season by scoring 51 points in the two victories, including 25 in the first half alone against Baylor, when he made a staggering seven 3-pointers in staking Tennessee to a 47-20 lead.
"That first half was something you wish you could bottle," Vols coach Rick Barnes said late Friday night in a news conference. "Offensively, Chaz really had it going there, and defensively, I was really proud of the effort. Our older guys set such a good tone for us.
"I thought we had great mental preparation in getting ready."
The Vols have notched their second 6-0 start in five years, and they have won all six this season by at least 15 points. Tennessee is also now 16-5 in its past 21 pairings with top-15 teams in the Associated Press poll since downing No. 6 Arizona on Dec. 22, 2021.
Lanier made his first 3-pointer nine seconds into Friday's runaway and added four more to pace Tennessee to a 16-2 lead less than four minutes into the game. The Vols would lead by as much as 42-14, and Lanier's seventh and final 3 in the first 20 minutes occurred with two seconds left.
"First, I want to congratulate Tennessee," Bears coach Scott Drew said. "They're a really good team, and Coach Barnes is an unbelievable coach and an even better person. I have mad respect for him, and I love playing against him, because if you have a weakness, he'll expose it.
"Their toughness showed in the first half. We had two assists and nine turnovers, and the one guy we said not to give an open 3 had 15 points in the first four minutes."
Lanier wound up 7-of-10 from 3-point range, with Tennessee shooting 12-of-27 from long distance (44.4%) as a team. Senior point guard Zakai Zeigler continued his floor general capabilities by compiling nine assists and three steals.
Tennessee will return to action at 4 p.m. Wednesday, when UT Martin visits the Food City Center.
"Overall, we've got to learn that if we continue to get better, we have a chance to have a really good basketball team," Barnes said. "There is a long way to go. It's so early into the season, but we've had some good wins against some good basketball teams.
"I told our team that winning is good and that it feels good, but if you even think you've arrived this time of year, you'll find out real quick you can get slapped in the face a few times. I hope we don't have to do that to understand how much better we can become as a team."
Contact David Paschall at [email protected].