Vanderbilt Commodores vs Tennessee Volunteers Box Score on Feb 12, 2022

Zakai Zeigler scored 16 points as No. 19 Tennessee struggled offensively at times but led most of the way en route to a 73-64 home victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Volunteers (18-6, 9-3 SEC) won their fourth straight heading into Tuesday's rematch with No. 5 Kentucky, which throttled them 107-79 last month in Lexington.

Zeigler scored in double figures for the sixth straight game on a night when some of Tennessee's other key players struggled offensively.

Josiah-Jordan James added 14 and 10 rebounds while shooting 2 of 14 from the floor and hitting 9 of 10 free throws. John Fulkerson added 12 while leading scorer Santiago Vescovi contributed 10 and second-leading scorer Kennedy Chandler was held to six as the Volunteers shot 36.7 percent.

Scotty Pippen Jr. led all scorers with 23 points but did not hit a basket in the final 5:03, while Vanderbilt as a team did not make a field goal over the final 2:51. Myles Stute hit five 3-pointers and added 17 points as the Commodores (13-11, 5-7) shot 40.8 percent and lost their 10th straight to Tennessee.

Pippen's layup with 7:22 remaining in the first half brought Vanderbilt within 28-24, but Tennessee quickly surged ahead. The Volunteers scored nine straight points for a 37-24 lead on a free throw by Zeigler with 4:03 left and held a 44-32 lead at halftime.

Vanderbilt scored 11 straight points to get within 50-45 on a 3-pointer by Stute and got within 52-51 on Pippen's jumper with 11:34 left. The Commodores continued to hang around and were within 61-59 on another Pippen jumper with 5:03 remaining, but Tennessee appeared to finally secure the game.

After two free throws by James, Chandler scored his first points of the game by hitting a putback with 4:12 left and then hit two more layups for a 69-59 lead with 3:02 to go. Vanderbilt was within 69-64 on two free throws by Pippen with 1:37 left, but Stute missed a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left and then James hit four free throws in the final 29 seconds to secure it.

--Field Level Media