Igor Milicic Jr. scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, paving the way for No. 11 Tennessee to beat Montana 92-57 on Wednesday in Knoxville, Tenn.
Chaz Lanier added 13 points, shooting 5-for-8 from the floor, as the Volunteers improved to 3-0. He scored all but two of his points in the second half.
Tennessee’s Felix Okpara and Cameron Carr each chipped in 13 points. Reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year Zakai Zeigler added 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Volunteers.
Money Williams scored 30 points to lead Montana (2-2), which was facing Tennessee for the first time. Williams made 4 of 7 3-point shots and hit on eight of his 15 attempts from the field.
Tennessee led 40-31 at the half and utilized the hot hand of Lanier to blow the game open.
Lanier sank three shots from beyond the arc to extend the Volunteers’ lead to 58-37 with 14:05 left.
Treys by Zeigler and Milicic helped fuel a strong start for the Volunteers, who led 16-6 less than five minutes into the game thanks to 6-for-6 shooting.
Both teams went through field-goal droughts midway through the half.
Milicic ended the dry spell for the Volunteers with a spin move inside that put his team up 23-19.
The Grizzlies finally hit a shot from the floor with 7:03 remaining when Te’Jon Sawyer scored inside to cut the deficit to 25-21.
Montana was within 31-29 before the Volunteers went on a 7-0 run, highlighted by a catch and shoot 3-pointer from Milicic as Tennessee surged in front 38-29 with 2:37 to go before the break.
That was the last field goal of the half for the Volunteers, but the Grizzlies weren’t able to cut into the lead as they connected just once on their last nine attempts from the floor in the half and didn’t score in the last two minutes.
–Field Level Media
