Gainesville, FL – The Tennessee men’s basketball team dropped its first game of the 2024-25 campaign, falling at eighth-ranked Florida, 73-43, Tuesday night in its SEC road opener.
Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier, who grabbed a co-season-high seven rebounds, and senior guard Zakai Zeigler scored 10 points apiece to lead top-ranked Tennessee (14-1, 1-1 SEC) at a sold-out, over-capacity Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Florida (14-1, 1-1 SEC) raced out to a 12-0 lead in the opening 6:18, as the Volunteers missed their initial nine shots. They got on the board with a pair of free throws at the 13:19 mark and then made the first field goal with 12:38 on the timer.
Tennessee forced nine consecutive misses on the defensive end and clawed within six, but the Gators then made back-to-back 3-pointers—the first by either side—in 34 seconds to go back up by a dozen, 18-6, with 9:51 to play in the half. They continued to extend their lead from there and pushed it to 19, 34-15, at the break.
The Volunteers missed their final 10 field-goal attempts of the session and went into the locker room with a 4-of-29 (13.8 percent) ledger, including a 0-of-14 mark beyond the arc. Despite the offensive struggles, Tennessee did turn in a strong half defensively, holding Florida to 14-of-37 (37.8 percent) shooting, including a 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) tally on 3-pointers.
Tennessee opened the second-half scoring after 50 seconds with its first 3-pointer of the night, but Florida scored the next nine points in 2:08 to go up by 25, 43-18, with 16:24 to go and squash any comeback hopes for the visitors.
The Gators stretched the margin as high as 36, 64-28, with 6:14 to play as the Tennessee offense could not find any footing. The Volunteers did score the next seven points and keep Florida off the scoreboard for three-plus minutes, as they continued to compete despite the cold shooting.
Florida ultimately held Tennessee to their lowest point total (43) and field-goal percentage (21.4; 12-of-56) of Rick Barnes‘ 10-year tenure. The Volunteers also shot just 13.8 percent (4-of-29) from 3-point range.
The Volunteers limited Florida to a 39.7 percent (27-of-68) clip from the floor, including a 30.0 percent (6-of-24) ledger from deep, but the shooting woes and a minus-17 margin, 55-38, on the glass were far too much to overcome on the road against a top-10 team.
Graduate student guard Alijah Martin led all scorers with 18 points for the Gators and junior guard Denzel Aberdeen notched 16. Sophomore forward/center Alex Condon had 12 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore center pulled down a game-best 15 rebounds, the most by a Tennessee foe in 2024-25.
Next Up For UT Men’s Basketball
The Tennessee men’s basketball team now travels to Austin, Texas, for a second straight road game, as it takes the Moody Center court Saturday at 5:00pm CT, 6:00pm ET against Texas, live on ESPN.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
Tennessee Volunteers Postgame Notes
Saturday marked the 17th game in program history with Tennessee ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll, as it fell to 14-3, including 13-2 in Barnes’ tenure.
The Volunteers also dropped to 28-5 all-time while ranked top-three in the AP Poll, including 24-3 under Barnes.
The Volunteers fell to 5-5 in SEC road openers during Barnes’ 10-year tenure, including 4-3 in the last seven such games.
Tennessee is now 30-23 in AP top-25 matchups under Barnes, including 23-16 with both teams in the top 20, 14-10 with both in the top 15 and 7-7 with both in the top 10.
In its last 31 AP top-25 matchups, Tennessee owns a 20-11 record, including an 11-6 ledger with both teams in the top 15.
The Volunteers fell to 16-6 in their last 22 games against AP top-15 opponents, dating to December 22nd, 2021, including 8-5 versus AP top-10 teams in that span.
The Volunteers’ 14-0 start to begin the season, which came to an end Tuesday, matched 1922-23 for their best opening to a campaign ever.
Tennessee’s prior lowest point total under Barnes was 46 on February 4th, 2023, in a three-point victory over Auburn, while the last time it 43 or fewer was January 10th, 2015, when it totaled 38 against Alabama.
The previous lowest field-goal clip for the Volunteers in Barnes’ tenure was 25.0 percent (15-of-60) versus Memphis on December 14th, 2019.
The Volunteers’ last defeat by 30-plus points was March 18th, 2011, against Michigan in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 in Charlotte, NC.
The last time Tennessee did not lead in a game was March 15, 2024, against Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals in Nashville, Tenn., while this is just the second time in 2024-25 the Volunteers did not lead by 18-plus in a contest.
Florida became the first team to have multiple players with double-digit rebounds against Tennessee since Noah Clowney (11) and Brandon Miller (10) did so for top-ranked Alabama on February 15th, 2023, in what was also a top-10 showdown with the No. 1 team in the nation on the losing end.
Per ESPN Stats & Info, the Volunteers’ 13.8 percent field-goal clip in the opening session marked their lowest tally in a half in Barnes’ 10-year tenure.
Tennessee started 1-of-15 from the floor, including missing all six of its 3-point attempts, in the first 10-and-a-half minutes, while Florida opened with a 4-of-16 mark at the other end that included misses on all four of its long-range tries.
The teams combined for three streaks of at least nine consecutive missed field goals in the first half, including one each way within the first 11 minutes.
Florida senior guard Walter Clayton Jr., became the first Tennessee opponent to record five assists versus the Volunteers.
Chinyelu’s 15 rebounds surpassed the 12 by both Miami’s Lynn Kidd (December 10th, 2024, in New York) and Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic (December 14th, 2024) for the most by a Tennessee opponent this year.
Tennessee’s prior lowest point total in a single half this season was 22 before the break in a November 21st matchup with Virginia in Nassau, Bahamas.
The Volunteers made their first 3-pointer 50 seconds into the second half, snapping a streak of 11 consecutive misses total across 7:13 and ending a 0-of-15 long-range skid to begin the evening.
In the first 35 minutes of the contest, Tennessee shot 7-of-49 from the field, including 1-of-24 beyond the arc.Before Tuesday, Tennessee’s largest deficit of the season was eight points, as it conceded an 8-0 game-opening run December 14th at Illinois.
Tennessee has conceded 35 or fewer first-half points in 14 of its 15 outings thus far, including 29 or fewer on nine occasions and 21 or fewer four times.
Lanier’s seven rebounds matched his season high, equaling the mark he set December 17th, 2024, versus Western Carolina.
