Vols rally, get revenge on Vandy

By AL LESAR

Associated Press

KNOXVILLE (AP) — Zakai Zeigler scored 22 points, all in the second half, and No. 5 Tennessee rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit to beat Vanderbilt Saturday, 81-76.

Chaz Lanieradded 21, for the Volunteers (21-5, 8-5 Southeastern Conference).

Jason Edwards led the Commodores (17-8, 5-7) with 24 points. Jaylen Carey came off the bench to score 18 before fouling out with 4:13 left in the game.

Edwards and Carey had 10 points each as Vanderbilt jumped to a 44-31 lead at halftime. The Commodores were prolific down low. They held an advantage in points in the paint (20-12).

Takeaways

Vanderbilt: Jaylen Carey has evolved into a force off the bench for the Commodores. He has scored in double figures in five of the last eight games and has proven to be productive as a rebounder.

Carey was instrumental in igniting the Vanderbilt offense early against Tennessee.

Tennessee: Last year, Dalton Knecht was good enough to help the Vols through the games in which shots weren’t falling.

This season has been more challenging. Even though its defense is considered among the best in the country, Tennessee hasn’t found a consistent answer to a sluggish offense — which has resulted in occasional losses.

Key moment

After trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half, Tennessee tied the game on a Zakai Zeigler 3-pointer with 9:41 left in the game.

Key stat

After being outrebounded 21-10 in the first half, Tennessee dominated the boards 20-12 in the second half.

Up next

Vanderbilt will travel to Kentucky Wednesday and Tennessee is off for the week before traveling to Texas A&M next Saturday.