COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) Chaz Lanier had a season-high 30 points, including 8 3-pointers, and No. 6 Tennessee defeated No. 7 Texas A&M 77-69 on Saturday.
Lanier, a senior transfer from North Florida, went 8 of 13 from beyond the arc and 10 of 18 overall in game that featured 11 lead changes and eight ties.
Jordan Gainey made a 3-pointer with 3:33 to left to give Tennessee (22-5, 9-5 Southeastern Conference) a 63-59 lead. Zakai Zeigler hit a 3 in front of the Vols’ bench on an inbound pass with 21 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
The Aggies (20-7, 9-5) started the game with three consecutive dunks before the Vols finally scored a little more than three minutes into the raucous setting at Reed Arena.
A&M led 17-8 early before the Vols scored the next seven points to climb back in the game.
Wade Taylor IV led the Aggies with 18 points, despite missing all nine of his 3-point attempts.
Texas A&M: The Aggies were coming off a 16-point loss at No. 21 Mississippi State that snapped a five-game winning streak, and they’ve lost two straight games for the first time since mid-January (at home against Alabama and at Kentucky). A&M, despite failing to collect its first home victory against a top-10 opponent in program history, likely won’t be affected much in the NCAA Tournament seedings.
Tennessee: The Volunteers hadn’t played since an 81-76 home victory over Vanderbilt a week earlier, and the rested crew appeared to have more energy and spirit from the start against the Aggies.
The Aggies led 40-38 with 15:27 remaining when Tennessee’s Jahmai Mashack collected an acrobatic, improbable tip-in while trying to grab the rebound off a Gainey missed 3-pointer.
Both teams made 90% of their free throws, each hitting 18 of 20.
The Volunteers play at LSU on Tuesday night. The Aggies host Vanderbilt on Wednesday night.
—
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Copyright 2025 STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
| TOP SCORERS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2
 |
C. Lanier G | 30PTS | 5REB | 0AST | |
|
4
 |
W. Taylor IV G | 18PTS | 4REB | 9AST | |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
| C. Lanier | 30 | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| Z. Zeigler | 16 | 2 | 7 | 3 |
| I. Milicic Jr. | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| J. Mashack | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| F. Okpara | 4 | 7 | 0 | 3 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
| J. Gainey | 14 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| C. Phillips | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| D. Dubar | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| G. Hurst | – | – | – | – |
| C. Duncan | – | – | – | – |
| G. Paull | – | – | – | – |
| B. Boswell | – | – | – | – |
| B. Linnemeyer | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 77 | 28 | 15 | 20 |
| STARTERS | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
| W. Taylor IV | 18 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
| Z. Phelps | 15 | 11 | 3 | 2 |
| A. Garcia | 14 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| H. Coleman III | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| S. Washington | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| BENCH | PTS | REB | AST | PF |
| P. Payne | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| J. Carter | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| C. Wilcher | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| M. Obaseki | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| H. Hefner | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| J. Lee | – | – | – | – |
| A. Mills | – | – | – | – |
| C. McDermott | – | – | – | – |
| G. Turkson Jr. | – | – | – | – |
| J. Ratowski | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 69 | 35 | 16 | 16 |