Rick Barnes benches Chaz Lanier, says Tennessee’s leading scorer wasn’t doing what he’s ‘getting paid to do’

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes gave leading scorer Chaz Lanier a quick hook just 11 seconds into the second half on Saturday at Texas, benching him for peeling off a screen and hurling an errant pass into the bench area. Barnes said after the game the decision had nothing to do with the turnover and everything to do with his decision to decline a shot, which Barnes made sure to note that Lanier is “paid to do.”

“I took him out the first play of the second half because he didn’t shoot the ball,” Barnes said. “That play is designed for that shot. I told him, ‘If you’re not going to do what you’re getting paid to do, then you’re going to sit over here.’ Because he is getting paid to do that.”

Lanier leads Tennessee in scoring and is second among all SEC players in points per game at 19.0. While Lanier struggled to score in the 74-70 win and didn’t execute out of the halftime break on the called set play, Barnes — despite the benching — made it clear that he has higher expectations for his star guard than performing solely as a shooter. 

“I’ve told Chaz all along, he doesn’t have to score the ball for us to win,” Barnes said. “He’s going to have to help those guys by learning how to screen, gonna have to learn to cut harder, learn to do his work early coming off screens, because he kind of gallops a little bit.”

Lanier finished with 10 points for a second consecutive game, tied for his second-lowest scoring output of the season. He took 11 shots in the win, but Barnes indicated he wants more out of him both in terms of his aggressiveness in looking to shoot and in his overall mechanics.

“He’s going to have to keep his feet closer to the ground,” Barnes continued. “Texas did a great job guarding him, and I thought his teammates did enough to get him separation to be effective, but he’s got to learn to get his hips twisted so he can get downhill quicker.”

Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler led the team with 16 points, and both Jordan Gainey and Darlinstone Dubar picked up the slack with 12 points each. The win improved the Vols to 15-1 on the season after suffering their first loss Tuesday at Florida.