It started like so many Tennessee games have this season.

There might have been a moment or two where Syracuse was hanging around, even getting within reach of making it a game. And like so many games from the Vols this season, a look up at the scoreboard and a peek at the box score revealed how out of hand it had gotten.

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Third-ranked Tennessee led by double digits at the half, but for good measure, all but put the Orange out of it in the first couple of minutes of the second half in route to a 96-70 triumph in the ACC/SEC Challenge at Food City Center late Tuesday night.

Midway through the last half, it was hard to name the headliner for the Vols (8-0). Cade Phillips turned his best minutes of the season to this point off the bench in the first half. Jordan Gainey was the kick-starter of their early-second half onslaught.

Then Chaz Lanier took over.

The star guard and Tennessee's leading scorer put it away for good around the 10-minute mark on his way to a 26-point night on 8-of-16 field goal shooting and four 3-pointers to pace a better than 50% shooting performance from the Vols.

Zakai Zeigler finished with 14 while Gainey and Phillips both scored with 12. Igor Milicic Jr. totaled 11.

Syracuse, down its top scorer, showed life at the end of the first half, but was unable to recapture it over the last 20 minutes. The Orange (4-3) were out-rebounded 39-26 and turned the ball over 11 times.

Elijah Moore led Syracuse with 24 points.

Chaz Lanier grabbed the ball, toed the sideline and dished it quickly to Zakai Zeigler.

A defensive stand, one of several from Tennessee against Syracuse in the first minute of the first half, turned into a dunk from Felix Okapra on the other end, sparking an 8-0 run from the Vols after trailing early.

Tennessee opened up an 8-2 lead off that stretch, but the Orange answered back with a Chris Bell 3-pointer and another score from Eddie Lampkin to trim the lead to 10-7 with 15 minutes left in the half.

The next five minutes were much of the same: The Vols seemingly on the cusp of building a lead before Syracuse clapped back to stay within a possession. Cade Phillips started a masterful half off of the bench with 8 points, including his second dunk to push Tennessee's advantage to 24-18 at the 10-minute mark, leading to an Orange timeout to try and settle down the Vols.

If quelling Tennessee's onslaught was the goal, it didn't work. Phillips scored on its next possession out of the timeout, then Zeigler buried a deep three and was fouled on the way down to go ahead 30-18 after the free throw.

Jaquan Carlos ended a two-and-a-half minute scoring drought for Syracuse with a 3-pointer and Elijah Moore trimmed the Orange deficit to single digits at 32-25 inside of seven minutes.

Helped by a Tennessee scoring drought that went for more than three minutes, Bell hit a corner 3-pointer that pulled Syracuse within four, but the Vols had another run in them before the end of the half, using a scoring stretch that included a Zeigler three, a drive and finish from Jahmai Mashack off of a Zeigler assist that was enough to go into halftime up 45-35 after both teams went cold in the last two minutes.

Bell hit a jumper at the buzzer to trim Tennessee's lead to 10 at the intermission.

If Syracuse had captured any kind of momentum at the end of the half, it took seconds for the Vols to snatch it back.

The Orange went from striking distance to an even deeper hole in the first couple of minutes in the second half, a period that defined the rest of the game. The Vols opened the half with an Igor Milicic Jr. three and what felt like an instant, Jordan Gainey's second-straight jumper in as many possessions had Tennessee up 59-41.

Gainey was one of the headliners of that dominating stretch. He tallied 3-pointers before Lanier began to heat up and by the 10 minute mark, the Vols were out to a 20-point advantage.

The rest of the half belong to Lanier. He scored in bunches, lacing a couple of threes that put Tennessee up 31 with 7:21 to go and after a relatively quiet first half, was sitting at a game-high 26 points and Syracuse was out of answers.

Tennessee will continue its three-game stretch against power conference teams against Miami.

The Vols will play the Hurricanes in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City next Tuesday (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Miami started the season 3-0 but have lost four-straight, including an upset home loss to Charleston Southern. The Hurricanes hosted Arkansas as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge on Tuesday and will open ACC play against Clemson on Saturday.

KenPom projects Tennessee to beat Miami, 81-65.

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