In January, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes benched senior sharpshooter Chaz Lanier in a game against Texas for not doing what Barnes said he’s “getting paid to do” – taking open shots and scoring. But Lanier had no problem fulfilling his contractual obligations Saturday in College Station as the Vols downed Texas A&M, 77-69. Lanier led the way with a season-high 30 points and lit up the scoreboard with a career-high eight 3-pointers. He finished the game 10-of-18 shooting and missed only five of his 13 attempts from beyond the arc.

“All we wanted to do with Chaz is get him a little bit of separation,” Barnes said postgame. “He’s gotten so much better because he’s seen all kinds of defenses.”

Lanier struggled in his last trip to the Lone Star State, where he got the quick hook from Barnes for a lack of aggression as a shooter and finished the game with 10 points on 11 shot attempts. But he avenged himself in every way with his second Texas two-step, setting the tone with 22 first-half points and helping close it down with five points in the game’s final five minutes.

The game featured 11 lead changes and the Aggies were on top for nearly half of the game’s 40 minutes, but Zakai Zeigler slammed the door shut alongside Lanier, finishing with five points in the final 60 seconds of action – including a dagger from distance that sealed it.

The win gets the Vols to 9-5 in SEC play – even with the Aggies and 3.5 games out of first – and carries significant potential seeding implications. As Jerry Palm noted on Friday, both A&M and Tennessee are projected 2 seeds heading into the weekend, with the winner of the game primed to make a leap to the No. 1 seed line should Alabama stumble.

Tennessee’s win gives it a ninth in Quadrant 1 opportunities which ranks second among all teams in college basketball behind only projected No. 1 overall seed Auburn, which has 14. In the process, its defensive efficiency metrics moved to No. 1 in the country at KenPom after holding A&M to 39% shooting on field goals and a 5-of-30 day from 3.