Tennessee Volunteers basketball coach Rick Barnes was straightforward when explaining why he benched his top scorer, Chaz Lanier, during Saturday’s game against the Texas Longhorns.
Barnes benched Lanier for the rest of the game after the fifth-year senior didn’t take any shots during a play designed specifically for him, according to Fox News.
Lanier shot for ten points in 34 minutes for Tennessee’s 74-70 victory over the Longhorns, but Barnes was unhappy with his follow-through.
“I took him out the first play of the second half because he didn’t shoot the ball,” Lanier 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.”
Rick Barnes was blunt about taking Chaz Lanier out after not doing what he’s ‘Paid To Do’
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) January 12, 2025
“I told him, I said, 'if you're not going to do what you're getting paid to do, you sit over here.' 'Cause he is getting paid to do that."
Accountability in NIL era. 🎥@rockytopinsider pic.twitter.com/qMC8xvlTJ9
Lanier’s point is well taken since Barnes has a $1.7 million NIL valuation.
“I’ve told Chaz all along, he doesn’t have to score the ball for us to win,” Barnes continued. “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.”
Still, Lanier has been no slouch for Tennessee. In his very first game for the team in December, he led with a team-high 18 points against Gardner-Webb. And against Miami, he scored 22 points in the Jimmy V Classic.
Barnes also reportedly awarded the 6-foot-4 guard with an A-plus on his nine-game report card.
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