Tennessee or Baylor didn't know it at the time, but their Baha Mar Championship bout was over nine seconds in.
That was when Chaz Lanier hit the first of five 3-pointers in the first four minutes that put the No. 11 Vols up for good and all but put the No. 13 Bears away on a ballroom floor inside the Baha Mar Convention Center in Nassau late Friday.
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Tennessee's 77-62 victory over Baylor capped a two-game stand that answered a lot of questions for the Vols (6-0). One of them is that Lanier is everything that they had hoped when they pulled him from the transfer portal to try and make up for the production lost with Dalton Knecht last season.
After sparking Tennessee's second half rout of Virginia the night before, Lanier was the tone setter right out of the gate. He totaled 25 points--all in the first half--on 9-of-16 shooting and seven 3-pointers.
Jordan Gainey headlined the second half, scoring 10 of his 16 points over the last 20 minutes, while freshman Cade Phillips scored a career-high 11 points and Igor Milicic Jr. totaled 10.
The Vols shot 52.2% from the field.
Norchad Omier paced Baylor (4-2) in scoring with 22 points and 10 rebounds. V.J. Edgecombe scored 20 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Chaz Lanier picked up where he left off less than 24 hours before.
He opened the scoring with a 3-pointer on Tennessee's opening possession and set the tone, lacing four more 3-pointers before less than four minutes in to give the Vols a 16-2 lead and forcing Baylor into a timeout.
If that timeout was meant to cool off Lanier, it didn't work. He continued to hit from anywhere on the floor, driving to the basket and finishing with a layup to stretch the Tennessee lead to 18-4.
The Vols' strong start on offense was a direct result of their play on the defensive end. Tennessee had five takeaways before the 10 minute mark with Zakai Zeigler snatching away three of those.
One steal led to a Cade Phillips dunk only seconds after he entered off of the bench. Also making quick contributions was Darlinstone Dubar, who made his Tennessee debut the against Virginia. His 3-pointer swelled the Vols' advantage to 23-4.
Jordan Gainey joined the onslaught, hitting a couple of 3-pointers of his own, while Lanier added to his already impressive point total to give Tennessee a commanding 31-11 lead with still seven minutes to go before halftime.
Baylor had few answers offensively and even when it did, they were hardly enough to quell Tennessee. The Vols kept them out of any kind of rhythm when they were on defense while putting together run after run, including a 9-0 scoring stretch that pushed them ahead, 42-14.
In an appropriate climax to the first half, Lanier connected on his seventh 3-pointer of the first 20 minutes just before the buzzer to send Tennessee to the locker room up 47-20.
Baylor showed signs of life in the early-going of the second half, outscoring the Vols 8-2 in the first minutes, but the deficit Tennessee created for the Bears was too much to overcome.
Phillips added to the lead and Zeigler got his first basket on a 3-pointer that opened up a 55-28 lead with under 15 minutes left on the clock.
Norchad Omier remained Baylor's best chance to trim the Vols' lead. His 18th points with just over 12 minutes left pulled the Bears within 21, but getting inside 20 points was continued to be a challenge as Jordan Gainey and Phillips combined for four free throws on back-to-back possession that extended the Tennessee lead to 61-36.
A Jayden Dunn three was followed by an Omier dunk that made it a 17-point game with 5:20 left and Rick Barnes spent a timeout that proved worthwhile when Gainey added a 3-pointer that put the Vols back up 20 only seconds out of the break.
Another push with less than three minutes left and a clock that continued to tick away ended any Baylor hopes of getting closer.
UP NEXT
Tennessee will return stateside and back to its home floor at Food City Center on Wednesday.
The Vols host UT-Martin (2-4) on Nov. 27 (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network+) before getting a week off leading up to their ACC/SEC Challenge against Syracuse in Knoxville on Dec. 3.
Tennessee will play three power conference teams in its next four games, including Miami in the Jimmy V Classic in New York City and Illinois on the road in a week-and-a-half span early next month.
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