No. 1 Tennessee escapes matchup with Texas with 4-point win

Field Level Media|published: Sat 11th January, 20:52 2025

Jan 11, 2025; Austin, Texas, USA; Tennessee Volunteers forward Felix Okpara (34) shoots the ball over Texas Longhorns forward Arthur Kaluma (6) and forward Kadin Shedrick (5) during the first half at Moody Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

Zakai Zeigler hit for 16 points, including a basket and four clutch free throws in the final minute, as No. 1 Tennessee outlasted Texas 74-70 on Saturday in a Southeastern Conference slugfest in Austin, Texas.

The back-and-forth battle was tied at 58-58 after a jumper by the Volunteers' Chaz Lanier with 5:15 to play.

Texas took a short-lived two-point lead on a basket by Jordan Pope, but the Volunteers answered with an 8-0 run, capped by Jordan Gainey's 3-pointer with 2:41 left to jump ahead 66-60.

Tre Johnson then canned a jumper from the elbow to bring Texas back to within four points, and Pope made one of two free throws with 1:30 remaining to trim the margin to 66-63.

Zeigler stoked the lead back to five with a driving layup with 59 seconds to play. He then grabbed the rebound of a miss by Johnson, was fouled and canned two free throws with 32 seconds left.

Zeigler hit two more from the line with 22 seconds to play and Gainey went to the line twice, hitting one of two each time, to ice the game.

Gainey and Darlinstone Dubar added 12 points each for Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC) while Lanier scored 10 as the Volunteers bounced back from a 30-point loss to Florida on Tuesday.

Johnson led all scorers with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Texas (11-5, 0-3) also got 17 points from Pope and 10 from Tramon Mark but dropped its third straight contest.

The game was tied at 11-11 after a 3-pointer by Dubar at the 11:33 mark of the first half but then both teams went cold, going more than two minutes without scoring. Tennessee snapped the drought when Felix Okpara finished off a three-point play, followed by Gainey's 3-pointer with 8:51 left in the half.

Texas responded with a dunk by Kadin Shedrick off a Johnson assist, and then Johnson, the Longhorns fab freshman, canned a 3-pointer to pull them to within 17-16.

Texas eventually built a 24-19 lead when Mark nailed a 3-pointer with 6:15 remaining in the half, but the Volunteers answered with an 11-2 spurt to go up by four points. They took a 33-31 lead into the break.

Johnson's 12 points led all scorers in the half.

--Field Level Media

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