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Tennessee basketball 2021-2022 season recap: Ranking the top 10 wins

By Caleb Calhoun

Mar 13, 2022; Tampa, FL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Josiah-Jordan James (30) celebrates with teammates after defeating the Texas A&M Aggies in the SEC championship game at Amelie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 13, 2022; Tampa, FL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Josiah-Jordan James (30) celebrates with teammates after defeating the Texas A&M Aggies in the SEC championship game at Amelie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 21, 2021; Uncasville, CT, USA; North Carolina Tarheels forward / center Armando Bacot (5) dribbles the ball against Tennessee Volunteers forward Uros Plavsic (33) during the first half at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 21, 2021; Uncasville, CT, USA; North Carolina Tarheels forward / center Armando Bacot (5) dribbles the ball against Tennessee Volunteers forward Uros Plavsic (33) during the first half at Mohegan Sun Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports /

Mohegan Sun Arena. Rank: 8. 441. 89. 534. 72. Uncasville, Conn.. Saturday, Nov. 21

Game No. 4 (Hall of Fame Tip Off 3rd Place)

At the time, this win didn’t seem like a big deal. Tennessee basketball had lost 71-53 to the Villanova Wildcats the day before, and the North Carolina Tar Heels had lost 93-84 to the Purdue Boilermakers. This was the consolation game for this November tournament in Connecticut.

With both teams just trying to make sure the whole trip wasn’t a failure and questions still surrounding how good of a program UNC was and how good of a head coach Hubert Davis would be, Rick Barnes’ team was actually playing with a bit of desperation. In the process, though, they put on an offensive clinic.

Zakai Zeigler had his breakout game, scoring 18 points with five assists, two steals and no turnovers while shooting 3-of-5 from three, 7-of-10 from the field and hitting his only free throw attempt. His play was incredible. Santiago Vescovi and Kennedy Chandler added 17 and 14 respectively, combining to go 5-of-9 from three.

Josiah-Jordan James was out the whole trip due to injury, but Chandler adding eight assists while Vescovi added two steals made up for that. John Fulkerson also scored 13 points and had six dishes. UNC making the Final Four makes this a retroactive quality win and puts it on this list, but they were ranked No. 18 in the AP Poll at the time, so it counts then too.

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