by Riley Haltom
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The No. 2 seed Tennessee Volunteers fell short against the No. 1 seed Houston Cougars in Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday, losing 69-50. The Vols shot an abysmal 6-28 from the field in the first half, including 1-15 from three-point range. Here are my takeaways from the loss:
Shooting Woes Strike Again
The Achilles heel of this Tennessee team was its inefficiency on offense. That was a known quantity; when the Vols lost games this season, it was on nights when they couldn’t hit shots reliably. The Vols shot 21.4% from the field, 6.7% from three-point range, and just 50% at the free throw line in the first half. Those numbers improved in the second half, shooting 37.5% from the field, 28.6% from three, and 81.3% at the line. It was clearly too little, too late. Head coach Rick Barnes explained the difference in the shooting numbers.
“First half obviously got away from us. Their second-chance opportunities were big and we felt like we got some shots, but we didn’t knock down some of those early, but we weren’t able to get anything really inside. But, again, the second-chance points early, when you’re shooting as poorly as we were, those were hard. The second-chance points are hard to overcome.”
Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey’s Rally
Chaz Lanier’s first half against Houston was awful. Lanier was 1-9 from the floor and 0-6 from three. Gainey wasn’t much better, just 2-6 overall and 0-3 from three. The second half was a marked improvement for both, with Lanier scoring 15 points, including going 7-7 from the line. Gainey shot 4-6 from the field and 3-3 from the line, totalling 13 second-half points. The duo ultimately tied for the most points for the Vols, with 17 each. Gainey explained what changed in the second half.
“Really started to be more aggressive getting downhill in the second half and just playing basketball freely, getting the ball side to side on the court is what we do and we did that the second half and good things happened.”
The Outstanding Careers of Jahmai Mashack and Zakai Zeigler
Jahmai Mashack and Zakai Zeigler played a combined 275 games as Tennessee Volunteers. During the four years the two played basketball at Tennessee, the Vols went 109-36. Tennessee reached a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament every year the two were on campus. Fittingly, as the two checked out of the game for the final time in their careers, they were met by a standing ovation from the remaining Vol faithful in Lucas Oil Stadium.
Mashack was a 2025 University of Tennessee Torchbearer Award Winner, the 2025 Field of 68 National Defensive Player of the Year, a 2025 Naismith Defensive Player Finalist, a 2025 Lefty Driesell Award Finalist, and a member of the 2025 SEC All-Defensive Team. He was also named to the 2024 and 2025 SEC Community Service teams and appeared in the most NCAA Tournament wins in Tennessee history with eight. Mashack was emotional about his career in college basketball.
“It’s really hard to say or think about any of the highs because I wanted to win so bad, especially for these guys right here, for the Vol fan base… It’s really not about me. I don’t care about getting any of the glory. I don’t care about getting any of the accolades, nothing like that… I seen Coach Barnes be the most consistent person. Even though we fight and get into it, we get right back to practice and coaching. He loves to coach me and he knows how much I put in this game. I really wanted to get there for him… I wanted to get there for the Vol fans, man. I wanted them to have something that they could be proud of, you know what I mean? And it’s hard. It’s hard, but we’re going to have to fight through it.”
Zeigler’s accomplishments are too many to list in totality, but to name a few, SEC All-Freshman team, four-time SEC all-defensive team, two-time SEC defensive player of the year, and two-time all-SEC first team. He leads the Tennessee program in assists and steals, and has over 1500 career points. Zeigler reflected on his time at Tennessee.
“The mark that they left on me and my family, they changed our lives, really. I’m just so thankful for each and every person that’s a part of Vol Nation. I’m so thankful for the coaches, so thankful for my teammates, so thankful for everybody that’s part of Tennessee as a whole… The mark that Tennessee has left on me is really crazy to just think about. It’s been the best four years of my life… changed my life, and I feel like Knoxville is a place I’ll call home forever. So everything that I’ve done there, everything that they’ve done for me has been nothing less than great and I wouldn’t even say ups and downs. Everything has been up, really. Vol Nation, I love you guys and I appreciate everything they’ve done for me and my family.”
What’s Next?
Coach Rick Barnes has plenty of preparation to do for next season, with all of his starters graduating. Many of the staples of this team are out of eligibility, so Barnes has some work to do recruiting and in the portal. However, despite the speculation that he would retire after Zeigler ran out of eligibility, Barnes is going nowhere and is prepared to continue leading the Vol Basketball program. For now, Vols fans can turn their attention to baseball and softball, which are both coming off SEC series wins, including a big upset of No. 2 Oklahoma by softball.