LEXINGTON, KY.—With 16:07 left in the second half of Tennessee’s 67-58 victory over UCLA in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night, Chaz Lanier let fly with a three-pointer that made certain he’ll never be forgotten by Vol fans.
When the ball popped through the net, Lanier knew exactly what it meant. With his 119th three-pointer of the season, Lanier broke the school record set by Vol legend Chris Lofton in 2007-08. Loften, whose No. 5 hangs in the rafters of the Vols’ Food City Center, made 118 of 307 threes in 36 games that season, a percentage of 38.4.
Lanier, who has at least one game left to play in the Midwest Regional semifinals in Indianapolis next week, has now made 120 of 293 shots from behind the arc (41.0 percent). He broke Lofton’s record in the same number of games as the Vols notched their 29th win of the season against seven losses.
“When it went in, I knew it was the one that broke the record,” Lanier told Hoops HQ. “I held up the chef’s kiss for a made three. It means a lot. I’ve just tried to come in and do my job, night in and night out. That’s what coach Barnes and the team need from me. My teammates make it so much easier for me, setting those hard screens, or being able to pass the ball and put it on point for me to shoot it.”
Lanier, who transferred last spring from the University of North Florida, had the unenviable task of trying to replace Dalton Knecht — last season’s Southeastern Conference player of the year, the winner of the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year award and a consensus first-team All-American — as the Vols’ go-to scorer.
Or at least that’s what the public thought. No one on the Tennessee staff put pressure on Lanier to match the numbers Knecht put up (21.7 points per game, 93 three-pointers, 39.7 percent from behind the arc). Not only did Lanier end up surpassing one of Knecht’s accomplishments, he passed a legend, too.
“It’s big,” Tennessee assistant coach Rod Clark, who first recruited Lanier, says. “I love that he broke it with C Lo [Lofton] in the building and where C Lo’s from [Lofton lives in Lexington and is from Maysville, Ky.]. That was huge.
“It means a lot. The kid works really, really hard. He always wanted to be here. He has a lot of pride wearing that jersey. He’s extremely grateful that he had the opportunity to even play here. For him to break that record, I know it means a lot to his family especially, but it means a lot to him.”
Perhaps, but as Tennessee coach Rick Barnes told Hoops HQ before being whisked off to the media interview room, Lanier plays for more than individual accomplishments.
“It’s awesome for him,” Barnes says. “He’s meant so much to our program this year. We wouldn’t be here without him. But to him, I promise you, that’s the least thing on his mind. He’s all about winning.”
