Why Rick Barnes isn't worried about Chaz Lanier's scoring slump for Tennessee basketball

Why Rick Barnes isn’t worried about Chaz Lanier’s scoring slump for Tennessee basketball

Posted by Admin January 16, 2025 Basketball

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Chaz Lanier corralled a loose ball and shot it over the extended arm of Georgia guard Blue Cain.

The Tennessee basketball guard made it, finally seeing a shot go in Wednesday in the waning moments of the first half. The high-scoring Lanier made only one more shot on a lowly shooting night.

The Vols guard had a brutal one against Georgia after having a hard one against Texas after having a rough one against Florida.

“The best of the best I have seen go through some periods where they struggled to shoot,” Vols coach Rick Barnes said. “It is not the easiest thing in the world. I don’t worry about Chaz.”

Barnes wasn’t bothered Wednesday despite Lanier turning in his worst offensive performance this season: He scored five points on 2-for-16 shooting and 1-for-9 on 3-point shooting in No. 6 Tennessee’s 74-56 win against No. 23 Georgia at Food City Center.

Chaz Lanier is on a cold streak for Tennessee basketball

Lanier had his best game at Tennessee (16-1, 3-1) in its SEC opener. He piled 29 points on Arkansas, hitting five 3-pointers and shooting 10-for-20.

The North Florida transfer has scored 25 points total in the three games since.

“The only way he is going to get himself out of it is to stay involved in the game and take the shots that he practices,” Barnes said.

Lanier was averaging 20.3 points after his Arkansas showing. He is averaging 8.3 points on 18.6% shooting and 16.6% on 3-pointers in the past three games.

That isn’t causing Barnes to fret yet. He repeatedly noted good shooters struggle. He chalked up some of the issues Wednesday to Georgia (14-3, 2-2) playing strong defense on Lanier, which is a theme of teams guarding him well and differently than he was at North Florida.

Barnes even saw improvement in Lanier’s game within the struggles against the Bulldogs. He thought Lanier came off screens and set up his shots with more speed. He didn’t make the shots, but Barnes applauded the pace of his offense.

“He is not an up-and-down guy,” guard Jahmai Mashack said. “He doesn’t get up when he is shooting well and get down when he is not. He is the same every day and every practice.”

Is Tennessee’s success sustainable without Chaz Lanier scoring?

Lanier missed a 3-pointer early in the second half. Felix Okpara roared to the rim, slamming the miss home for a second-chance dunk.

“We feel like if he is not going to give us something . . . we think somebody will,” Barnes said. “We think we’ve got enough guys that can do that for us.”

Tennessee saw evidence of that in its 74-70 win at Texas on Saturday and then against Georgia. Darlinstone Dubar stepped up with 12 points at Texas. Jordan Gainey also had 12.

Gainey popped for a game-high 19 against Georgia. Mashack gave a boost with 11 points and Zakai Zeigler had 16.

Mashack noted Lanier’s presence creates those opportunities for other Vols “to go off.”

“His gravity and him being on the court, he doesn’t have to hit shots,” Mashack said. “He can go 2-for-16 and we will win.”

Barnes thinks the Vols can continue to win games that way. It probably won’t have to because Lanier won’t slump forever. But he sure did Wednesday, and the Vols found a way.

“To win the game like we did without him having a big night was good,” Barnes said.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.