ATHENS — Good luck getting to know this Tennessee basketball team. After erasing a 15-point deficit in a loss to Mississippi State on Wednesday, the fifth-ranked Vols gave up a 14-point lead at Georgia on Saturday afternoon, fell behind by 11 points and then eked out an improbable victory over the last eight minutes.
The Vols finished the game with a 15-1 run and won 85-79 at stunned Stegeman Coliseum.
Georgia's lead stood at 11 with 8:29 left after the Bulldogs spent 16 minutes outscoring the Vols by 25 points. But then Tennessee started finding answers, usually in the form of Dalton Knecht.
Tennessee shot six straight times from the field between 7:30 and 3:28 of the second half, then Knecht tied the score at 78-0 with 2:33 left, with the Vols going on an 8-0 run.
Knecht delivered the dagger with 1:56 left to give Tennessee an 81-79 lead. Knecht added two free throws with 39 seconds left to extend the lead to four.
Knecht led Tennessee (12-4, 2-1 SEC) with a game-high 36 points Zakai Zeigler had 18 points, five assists and five rebounds after committing six turnovers in the first half. Jonas Aidoo scored 10 points and had 15 rebounds Josiah Jordan James And Santiago Vescovi combined for 10 points on 4-for-14 shooting.
Georgia (12-4, 2-1) had four double-digit scorers, led by Jabri Abdur-Rahims 21 points. Noah Thomasson had 14, RJ Melendez scored 13 and Silas Demary Jr. added 13.
Back-to-back three-pointers in the first 34 seconds of the second half led to a 15-0 Georgia run, giving the Bulldogs a 43-42 lead and forcing a Tennessee timeout.
Georgia's lead was 16:06 after Abdur-Rahim's five-point possession, and was its largest lead of the game at that point. James had a common foul on the floor that was upgraded to Flagrant 1 upon review, giving Abdur-Rahim two free throws, which he followed up with a corner three free throws.
The Bulldogs had scored 25 of the game's final 32 points while going from 14 to four points.
Demary Jr. hit a three-pointer as the shot clock expired at 10:46, extending Georgia's lead to eight as the Bulldogs outscored 27-14 in the second half and 36-14 since 4:01 of the first half. Thomasson built a 10-point lead on the next down, scoring at the rim after Aidoo let a paint shot bounce off the rim.
Vols remained scoreless in the final four minutes of the first half
Tennessee extended its lead to 14 points with 4:01 left in the first half after Zeigler made a steal at midcourt and made an uncontested transition basket, but those were the last points the Vols would score in the first half .
Georgia ended the half on a 9-0 run, cutting Tennessee's lead to 42-37 at the break after the Vols missed their final seven shots of the half. Knecht scored 16 points in 16 minutes in the first half, followed by 42 points in 46 minutes in the second half on Wednesday at Mississippi State.
Zeigler scored eight points, five assists and three rebounds in the first half, but was also responsible for six of Tennessee's 10 first-half turnovers. James went 0-for-6 from the field in the first half. Awaka scored six points in the first half, Aidoo four and Vescovi three.
Next: No. 5 Tennessee vs. Florida, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN
After two straight road games – the Vols lost 77-72 at Mississippi State on Wednesday, falling in the final minute after rallying from a deficit of as many as 15 points to tie – Tennessee returns home on Tuesday at 7 p.m back to host Florida Eastern Time begins on ESPN.
It is the start of a series of three out of four home games. Alabama's next home game is Saturday, January 20 (noon or 2 p.m. ET on ESPN or ESPN 2).
Tennessee, which has no midweek game after hosting the Crimson Tide, travels to Vanderbilt on Jan. 27 (6:00 p.m. ET, SEC Network) and meets again on Jan. 30 (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network). at home against South Carolina rounds out the January schedule.