Former North Florida guard Chaz Lanier has committed to Tennessee

Former North Florida guard Chaz Lanier, one of the transfer portal’s top available players, has committed to Tennessee, he told ESPN on Friday.

“I’m going back home,” Lanier said. “I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to come back to my home state and work for my city and family. My whole family will be at every game next year, Lord willing.”

Lanier, a first-team All-Atlantic Sun player, averaged 19.7 points per game last season. He ranks among the best shooters in college basketball, hitting 106 3-pointers in 31 games and converting 44% of his attempts from beyond the arc.

Lanier recently chose the Vols over Kentucky and BYU after taking official visits to all three schools.

“UT was the best because of the fit and style of play,” Lanier said. “I will be able to demonstrate my ability to put the ball in the basket at the highest level of college basketball, and develop my defense under Rick Barnes, a Hall of Fame coach who has a track record of sending players to the NBA, the culture I know he created. I can feel it on my official visit.

Lanier said he will withdraw from the NBA draft at the NCAA deadline on May 29 after gathering valuable feedback at the NBA G League’s Elite Camp in Chicago last week.

Lanier joins a Tennessee team coming off an SEC regular-season championship and an Elite Eight appearance, a team headlined by SEC Player of the Year and All-American Dalton Knecht, a projected top-10 pick.

An elite shooter/scorer who also plays the same position, Knecht transferred from Northern Colorado, a fact that was not lost on Lanier in the recruiting process.

“Tennessee has never compared me to Dalton in terms of our style of play or the way we play, but we’ve talked about the path he’s taken which is a very similar path,” he said. “It’s possible that I can do the same thing.”