Tennessee held on to get a big win on the road at No. 7 Texas A&M behind Chaz Lanier’s 28 points.

Tennessee survived a difficult road atmosphere in College Station to secure a statement 77-69 win over one of the best teams in the country.

Chaz Lanier led Tennessee with 28 points and eight made triples, most of which came in the first half. Zakai Zeigler came on strong in the second half and finished with 16 points.

The Vols were down 6-0 after a few early turnovers led to baskets by the Aggies. However, Tennessee settled down thanks to Lanier and his early scoring surge. He hit his first three 3-pointers and it was 17-15 Texas A&M after a 7-0 Vols run.

Tennessee was struggling to contain the Aggies on the offensive glass and had already given up four at the seven minute mark of the first half. Lanier hit a another triple to answer an A&M 3-pointer and then dunked it with his left hand on a hard drive. Zeigler hit a triple in transition and gave Tennessee its first lead of the game at 23-22.

A quick 5-0 response gave the lead back to the Aggies but then Lanier hit another 3-pointer to start 5-5 on the day. Jordan Gainey gave the Vols the lead back with four minutes left in the game. Lanier continued to be unbelievably hot from deep and hit his sixth triple of the first half to give him 20 points.

Lanier hit a fading midrange to give him 22 points in the first half on 8-10 shooting. Tennessee led 36-32 at the break thanks to Lanier’s explosion.

After four minutes in the second half it was tied at 38-38. A 3-pointer by the Aggies made it 43-40 with 14 minutes left. Tennessee took the lead back at 44-43 after a Cade Phillips dunk. A 6-0 run by A&M made it 51-48 with eight minutes left in the game. Lanier hit his first triple of the second half and tied the game.

The game was tied at 57-57 after two A&M free throws with 4:30 to play. Lanier hit his eighth triple of the game to give the Vols a lead. Gainey then hit another one to answer an Aggies layup and it was 63-59. Gainey hit another 3-pointer to give Tennessee their largest lead of the game.

Ziegler missed the front end of a one and one and then A&M hit one free throw to cut it to 68-65 with 1:37 to play. Gainey made both free throws to make it 70-65 but then the Aggies answered with a layup. Zeigler then hit a dagger triple to finish off A&M for good.

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