Jordan Gainey registered 19 points and seven rebounds and No. 6 Tennessee overcame a slow start to post a 74-56 victory over No. 23 Georgia on Wednesday night in Southeastern Conference play at Knoxville, Tenn.
Zakai Zeigler recorded 16 points, seven assists and a career-best six steals for the Volunteers (16-1, 3-1 SEC). Jahmai Mashack had 11 points and Cade Phillips added 10 for Tennessee, which opened the second half with a 26-4 burst.
The victory was the Volunteers’ 100th all-time against the Bulldogs. Georgia has prevailed 62 times in the series.
Asa Newell scored 13 points and Silas Demary Jr. added 12 for the Bulldogs (14-3, 2-2), who are ranked in the AP poll for the first time since January 2011.
Georgia didn’t step up to the challenge and committed 19 turnovers and shot 37.7 percent from the field, including 6 of 21 from 3-point range.
Zeigler (600) became the second player in Tennessee history to reach 600 career assists. The other is program leader Johnny Darden (715 from 1975-79).
Zeigler also became the program leader with 215 career steals, passing former teammate Santiago Vescovi (212 from 2019-24).
The Volunteers shot 42.4 percent from the field — including 57.6 in the second half — but were just 8 of 27 from behind the arc. Zeigler was 4 of 8 from long range.
Tennessee exploded at the outset of the second half with a 15-1 run. Mashack scored the first five points to fuel the run and Phillips ended it with a dunk for a 40-27 lead.
Six minutes into the half, Newell hit a 3-pointer for Georgia’s first field goal but Zeigler answered with a trey to start an 11-0 surge. Zeigler hit two more 3-pointers during the run as the lead reached 51-30 with 12:30 left to play.
When the Bulldogs pulled within 61-48 on Dakota Leffew’s trey with 6:25 left, Tennessee responded with a 13-4 run to make it a 22-point lead. Gaines had six points during the spurt.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half as Georgia led 26-25 at the break.
The Bulldogs were 10 of 26 from the field (38.5 percent) and the Volunteers made just 9 of 33 (27.3 percent).
Newell scored four straight points late in the half to give Georgia a 26-21 advantage. But Tennessee scored the final four points to move within one at the half before coming out strong in the second half.
