Tennessee basketball made its official season debut on Monday night as they welcomed Gardner-Webb to Food City Center. The Vols opened the season with an 80-64 win to begin Rick Barnes' tenth season on Rocky Top, but it wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination.
Scoring was sparse throughout the night, but transfer guard Chaz Lanier had the best shooting night of any Vol in his first game in orange and white. He shot 4-for-7 from the field and 3-for-5 from three-point range, but the Vols' leading scorer was junior guard Jordan Gainey, who finished the night with 16 points off the bench.
Senior Zakai Zeigler also finished the night with double digits in the total, with 13 points in the season opener. Zeigler only shot 3-for-10 from the field, but it was good enough to help the Vols get into the win column.
Besides the success of some of Tennessee's guards, they struggled shooting for most of the night everywhere else. Center Felix Okpara struggled on the offensive end of the court and went 0-for-2 from the field.
The defense also wasn't necessarily impressive. Tennessee is replacing a few seniors, so it might take some time for the returning players to mesh with the transfers and younger players on the court. It won't be easy to get the same production as Santiago Vescovi and Josiah Jordan-James, who were both great defenders while at Tennessee.
Barnes has a high defensive standard, so don't expect Tennessee to be satisfied with its performance on either end of the court. It is only the first game of the season, and there is plenty to build on, but there is also a lot the Vols can work on to improve before they face stiffer competition.
Tennessee will travel to Louisville to face the Cardinals on Saturday. Tip-off will be at 12:00 PM ET at the KFC Yum! Center and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.