No. 11 Tennessee takes aim at the stingy Virginia defense when the two unbeaten teams meet Thursday night in the Baha Mar Hoops tournament in Nassau, Bahamas.
The Volunteers (4-0) shot a sizzling 63.8 percent from the field in Sunday’s 103-68 victory over Austin Peay. They have scored at least 77 points in every game and have four players averaging at least 11.0 points per contest.
The contrasting Cavaliers (3-0) have not allowed more than 60 points yet this season, holding opponents to 33.8 percent shooting from the field. They are coming off a 70-60 win over Villanova in Baltimore last Friday.
Baylor and St. John’s are also participating in the tourney, with the consolation and championship games held on Friday night.
Tennessee has only trailed for one minute and 34 seconds through four games this season, including an early 3-0 deficit before annihilating Austin Peay in Knoxville. The Volunteers were up 52-29 at halftime and led by as many as 37 points.
Igor Milicic Jr. led the Vols in points (23) and rebounds (nine) for a second straight game and Zakai Zeigler added 19 points and eight assists against the Governors.
Zeigler tops Tennessee with 15.5 points and 7.8 dimes per game and Milicic averages 14.0 points and a team-high 6.3 boards. Chaz Lanier (13.8) and Jordan Gainey (11.0) are also scoring in double figures.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes’ squad has all the pieces in place for an anticipated chess match against Virginia.
“Every game will take on its own identity, and Virginia is obviously a well-coached team,” Barnes said. “… We have so much respect for the people we play against, and we know how we want to play, but the other team does, too. And we want to try and take away what they want to do well — and they want to do the same thing to us. That’s where it gets down to where guys have to play.”
Sunday’s win was the 600th home game for Barnes at Tennessee, compared to just two home games for interim coach Ron Sanchez at Virginia. Sanchez took over lat month for three-time national coach of the year Tony Bennett and has carried over an affinity for tough defense and strong perimeter play.
The Cavaliers are allowing just 53.7 points per game and averaging 6.0 blocked shots. Offensively, Virginia ranks in the top 10 in the country shooting 44.6 percent from 3-point distance.
Virginia made 14 of 25 shots (56 percent) from behind the arc in last week’s win against Villanova. Isaac McKneely was a perfect 6 for 6 from the perimeter and scored a game-high 23 points to lead three Cavaliers in double digits.
“He’ll be the first one to tell you (that) he shot the ball well because his teammates passed him the ball at the right time and on target,” Sanchez said of McKneely, who averages a team-high 16.0 points per game.
Jacob Cofie contributes 13.0 points and a team-high 7.7 rebounds and Elijah Saunders (10.3) is the third Cav scoring in double figures in the early going.
