CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tennessee advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament with a dominant 83-49 win over Saint Peter's on Thursday night in Charlotte.
The second-seeded Vols opened up the scoring with a Dalton Knecht three-pointer. UT extended the lead to 5-0 when Zakai Zeigler lobbed up a pass to Jonas Aidoo for a layup. The following possession Zeigler found Aidoo again, this time for a dunk, and the Vols went up 7-0.
After Saint Peter's scored, a 15-seed in the tournament, it was Aidoo again on the interior throwing down another dunk while getting fouled. He converted on the free throw attempt and Tennessee led 10-2.
The Peacocks trimmed the lead to 10-5, but the Vols continued to score. Knecht scored on a floater, Zeigler scored a three and then Knecht scored again after a goaltending was called while he was fouled. After the free throw, UT led 18-5 and then Aidoo hit a jumper to make it 20-5.
The Vols got up by 20 points with 8:41 left in the first half following another three-pointer from Knecht. They'd get up by as many as 29 points in the first half. They led at halftime 46-20.
UT shot 64% from the field in the first half and held the Peacocks to just 23.3% from the field. Knecht and Aidoo both had 13 points by halftime. Zeigler had six assists.
UT got up by 30 points after Knecht scored on an and-one in the second half, making the score 52-22.
J.P. Estrella threw down some nice dunks coming off the bench. One of them came on an alley-oop, which gave Zeigler his tenth assist of the game.
Knecht finished with 23 points. Aidoo finished with 15 points. Zeigler had 11 points and ten assists.
Tennessee will play in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. That game is set to tip off at 8 p.m. and will be televised on CBS.