Comparisons between Chaz Lanier and Dalton Knecht ended with Tennessee’s 73-43 loss to the Florida Gators, but the Vols’ 76-75 loss on the road to the Vanderbilt Commodores raises a more concerning issue: Does Lanier lack the clutch gene? UT’s best scorer straight up choked away a golden opportunity in that game.
Lanier missed a potential game-tying free throw with less than three seconds left to cost the Vols that game after making the first one. He is a career 84.4 percent free throw shooter and made his previous three before that one. You have to question why his only miss came with the game on the line.
Before that, though, Lanier had already made a mistake. The Vols had the ball down 76-74 with a chance to tie, and Rick Barnes called an iso play for Lanier. He got the angle and the look he wanted as he drove to the basket, but he went too light and jumped too early. As a result, his shot was blocked.
His free throws were a major break to make up for that, as Vandy missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and made the disastrous mistake to foul him when the Vols had the ball on their side of the court with no timeouts. However, he was unable to cash in on that golden second chance.
Now, we have to question the assassin’s mentality of Lanier.
Remember, in the Vols’ blowout loss to Florida, Lanier didn’t try at all to manufacture points from the midrange or by driving to the basket and drawing fouls. He just seemed to accept his fate of having a horrendous shooting night and basically took himself out.
Combine that with Lanier not able to close the deal when he’s given the opportunity, and these little moments force you to question if he is meant for the big moment. What will happen when he has the ball late in an NCAA Tournament game that is extremely close?
There’s a reason that when things get tough for this team, Zakai Zeigler is the one who takes over, even if he isn’t the best scorer. Zeigler is cold-blooded and will go all out trying to win. He did the same thing in this game, finishing with 16 points and 10 assists. despite missing a lot of the first half due to foul trouble.
Although Lanier led the team in scoring with 17 points, and although the inside scoring was good with 16 points apiece from Felix Okpara and Igor Milicic Jr., that last moment is a concerning sign. Assassins find ways to score when they’re struggling, and they hit their free throws with the game on the line.
In less than two weeks, Lanier failed on both fronts.
Barnes may have to start turning more to Zeigler to be the clutch guy and close the deal in these type of games. He’s clearly not scared of the moment. Let Lanier do the scoring to get Tennessee to that point, but at that point, they need to look elsewhere.
