CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the third consecutive season, the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team claimed a first-round victory in the NCAA Tournament, this time with an 83-49 decision Thursday night against No. 15-seeded Saint Peter’s.
Sixth-ranked, second-seeded Tennessee (25-8, 14-4 SEC) led wire-to-wire at Spectrum Center and got a game-best 23 points from fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht, who entered the top five on the program’s single-season scoring list. The triumph also served as the 200th for head coach Rick Barnes in his Tennessee tenure, making him the 19th coach ever to hit that number at two Division I schools.
The Volunteers scored the first seven points in the opening two-and-a-half minutes to immediately grab control and shortly thereafter used a 19-2 run in 7:10 to push the lead all the way to 22, 29-7, with 7:04 on the timer. Junior forward Jonas Aidoo had 13 points on a perfect 5-of-5 field-goal clip at that time. Meanwhile, Saint Peter’s (19-14, 12-8 MAAC) went 3-of-20 from the floor, including 1-of-10 from deep, through the first 13 minutes.
Tennessee went on a 14-2 spurt in 3:48 late in the first session to go up by 29, 46-17, with 55 ticks left in the frame. The Peacocks hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 46-20 at the intermission. The Volunteers shot 64.0 percent (16-of-25) through 20 minutes, including 44.4 percent (4-of-9) from deep, while holding Saint Peter’s to 23.3 percent (7-of-30) and 26.7 percent (4-of-15) respective clips.
The Volunteers stretched their margin to a then-game-best 33, 65-32, with 12:29 remaining. They went scoreless for the next four-plus minutes, but conceded just six points during that stretch and never let the Peacocks seriously challenge them the rest of the way.
Tennessee went up by as many as 36 points on multiple occasions and claimed a 34-point triumph, its second-largest ever in NCAA Tournament action and the biggest by any SEC team in the NCAA Tournament since March 21, 2019.
Knecht, who recorded 20-plus points for the 14th time in the last 19 affairs, shot 8-of-15 from the floor, including 4-of-8 beyond the arc. He also led all players with eight rebounds in his 29 minutes of action.
Junior guard Zakai Zeigler, in a showdown with his half-brother, Armoni, recorded the first points/assists double-double by a Volunteer in NCAA Tournament play. He totaled 11 points and 10 assists, the latter the fourth-most ever by a Tennessee player in the NCAA Tournament, while committing just two turnovers.
Aidoo finished with 15 points on 5-of-6 field-goal shooting, grabbed three rebounds and blocked three shots to enter the top three on the school’s single-season leaderboard.