Chaz Lanier was that dude for Tennessee basketball vs. Texas — and Vols need more | Estes
Chaz Lanier is not Dalton Knecht. Different person. Different player.
Same dude for Tennessee basketball, though.
When the Vols need someone to step up and take – and make – that big shot, Lanier is that someone. That player the other side must worry about. The leading scorer. The best shooter. Much like last season when Knecht, too, arrived as a senior from a smaller university and began crushing it in the SEC.
“I mean, I hear it all the time,” Lanier said with a laugh. “I would say we're definitely two different players, but we're taking a similar route, coming to play for Coach Rick Barnes.
“A lot of similarities.”
If Tennessee is going to make this a March to remember, it’ll need the best from Lanier, a Nashville native and former standout at Ensworth.
Same went for Knecht a year ago, which is why comparisons were inevitable when Lanier transferred in from North Florida. Not very fair to Lanier, though. You don’t just replace a talent like Knecht, who was one of college basketball’s best players for one of its very best teams.
Without Knecht last season, those Vols wouldn’t have gotten within a whisker of the Final Four. Without him this season, these Vols needed a big-time scoring threat to complement point guard Zakai Zeigler and that trademark defense coached annually by Barnes.
Lanier has been that. In 32 games this season, he has reached double-figures in 30.
On Friday afternoon, it took him less than seven minutes of game time. Because of Lanier, fourth-seeded Tennessee (26-6), which flopped in “pathetic” fashion (Barnes’ word) in last season’s SEC tournament (with Knecht), was sizzling to start Friday’s 83-72 quarterfinal victory over Texas.
Playing his first-ever game at Bridgestone Arena before “about 50” friends and family, Lanier had 17 points in the game’s first 8:46. On pace to pass 60, Lanier cooled off, but he still finished with a game-high 23 points in an encouraging postseason debut for him and the Vols.
“It's definitely special,” said Lanier, whose father Thomas played for Lipscomb in the 1990s and is a member of the Bisons’ 1,000-point club. “Just being able to have my family see my play on the biggest stage, it's always a treat and a blessing.”
Lanier says this entire season has been a blessing. He couldn’t have imagined it going this way when he was a lightly recruited player out of Ensworth. This hasn’t been easy. Lanier worked at this. He didn’t blow up immediately as a college player. He improved during four seasons at North Florida, culminating in a breakout 2023-24 that made him one of the more coveted transfers in the portal.
Could have gone a lot of places. He chose to return close to home and play for Tennessee.
“He had a chance to go other places and probably do a little bit better NIL-wise,” Barnes said, “but he decided he wanted to stay home. He wanted to play in his home state.”
And, thus, step into that role vacated by Knecht. Everyone knew the narrative, even if it didn’t apply.
“I told Chaz when he got here, 'DK isn't Chaz, and Chaz isn't DK,’ ” Vols teammate Jahmai Mashack said. “They are two totally different players. They do different things. They both score the ball well, but they do it in different ways.”
And there’s this:
“I never had to tell Dalton to shoot,” Barnes said. “I beg Chaz to shoot sometimes, because he is so conscientious. … He's very confident in who he is, but he's a very, very unselfish basketball player, sometimes to a fault.”
Lanier smiles when told Barnes’ words. “He definitely” does harp on shooting more, said Lanier, who admitted “I probably need to do a better job being more assertive.”
As the Vols enter the season’s most important stretch, Lanier already looks back on this season as being “better than I ever could have imagined.”
It can get even better from here.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball needs Chaz Lanier to pick up where Knecht left off
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