Classified ad: Tennessee basketball team seeks more games in Nassau. Free sunshine and sand. All expenses paid. Contact Rick Barnes, Pratt Pavilion, 1610 Lake Loudoun Boulevard, Knoxville, TN 37996

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In days recently past, Tennessee walloped, blasted and hammered (really, I’m telling you, hammered) two famous basketball names, Virginia and Baylor, and claimed outright ownership of the four-team championship at the Baha Mar resort in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, West Indies, precisely 180.4 miles south-southeast of Miami.

Coach Rick Barnes might actually win a national title if his team could play all games on his favorite island. The Vols looked like they were at home in a 64-42 second-half romp over the Cavaliers. They beat the Bears, 77-62. That one was over soon after it started. Chaz Lanier scored 15 in the first four minutes.

The Vols stayed for a bonus day of relaxation and beach time but the show must soon go on. The 6-0 team will be at Food City Center Wednesday afternoon against UT Martin. Tipoff is planned for 4 p.m. Tickets are available or you can do streaming at SEC Network-plus or listen to the Vol Network.

The Vols will remain in town for a Dec. 3 game against Syracuse in the SEC/ACC Challenge. After that will be the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, New York City, Dec. 10 versus Miami. Yes, this is a big-time program.

We’ll eventually see how big.

Guard Chaz Lanier #2 scored 51 points in two games in the Bahamas.

Lanier, Nashville native, imported from the University of North Florida (Jacksonville), was clearly the Nassau star, MVP, sharpshooter, high scorer. He had 26 in the rout of Virginia and 25 against Baylor – in the first half.

He didn’t score after intermission.

Other Vols had good games. Jordan Gainey scored 16. Very promising sophomore Cade Phillips had 11 points and four rebounds. Igor Milicic scored 10 but got only one rebound.

“We got a flow going early,” said Barnes. “And when you get a lead like that, it’s really hard to play because you want to continue to be aggressive, but you don’t want to get sloppy. And at times we did.”

As usual, the coach monitored the defense.

“Proud of the effort of our older guys who set such a good tone.”

The victory against Virginia was an almost opposite format. Tennessee, up by one at halftime, asserted itself with a 9-0 run. That lead swelled to 26. Lanier scored 18 after intermission.

“Second half, able to get some stops, some turnovers and turn those turnovers into some baskets,” said Barnes. “We just stayed with it.”

Overall, Milicic scored 14, pulled down eight rebounds and made three assists. Zakai Zeigler missed eight shots. When he finally hit one, teammates cheered.

There was a significant defensive accomplishment. Virginia guard Isaac McKneely, in previous games, he had hit 11 of 17 threes. He was averaging 16 points a game. He scored 23 in a victory over Villanova.

Jahmai Mashack limited McKneely to four points – one of six from the floor.

Barnes really liked the four-team tournament.

“We learned that we can continue to get better. We have a chance to have a really good basketball team.”

The coach counted the victory at Louisville in saying, “We’ve had some good wins over some good teams. I told our team winning feels good, but if you ever think you’ve arrived at this time of year, you’ll find out real quick that you’ll get slapped in the face a few times.

“I hope we don’t have to do that to keep understanding how much better we need to get.”

Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com