Despite LSU's defensive effort, No. 5 Tennessee avoids the upset

LSU’s gauntlet of an SEC schedule down the stretch welcomed No. 5 Tennessee to the PMAC on Tuesday, but the upset bid by the Tigers fell short.

In a low-scoring game that ended with a 65-49 win by the Volunteers, LSU’s defense buckled in enough for the Tigers to be outscored by just three points in each half against one of the nation’s most-talented teams.

And when Tennessee took a 15-point lead with a little more than three minutes left, LSU answered with a final counter punch by scoring 13 of the game’s final 17 points – including open looks on the final possessions that would have cut the deficit to a one-score game as LSU traded quick fouls for the ball in the final minute.

Ultimately, No. 5 Tennessee buckled in and did enough to get the six-point win over the Tigers, putting LSU at 14-14 on the season with just three Southeastern Conference wins.

The leading scorer for an LSU offense that struggled against the Volunteers was Vyctorius Miller, who scored 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including a trio of 3-pointers and a pair of free throws in 27 minutes of game action.

Here’s what LSU head coach Matt McMahon and Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said about the game, as well as the recap of how the night unfolded on Tuesday evening in the PMAC.

LSU’s next game is set for Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT in Starkville vs. a Top 25 team in Mississippi State.

Opening Statement…
“I thought our guys came out and competed extremely hard, especially on the defensive end; we were able to be disruptive there. Credit to Tennessee, their physicality and toughness on the offensive glass overwhelmed us. I thought their second-chance points ended up being the difference in the game. Our field goal defense was certainly good enough to give us a chance, but when you’re playing against a team that’ll contend to go to the Final Four, you can’t give up that many second opportunities against a team of their caliber. I thought there down the stretch you saw (Zakai) Zeigler make some of those winning plays where he whipped us off the dribble and got to the rim and finish to seal the game.”

On their second-straight game contending against a top-5 team…
“I think it was against the No. 1 and No. 3 defenses in the country these past two games, so I certainly want to give Tennessee their credit. I think Tennessee with their physicality and toughness were really disruptive. I’d argue Ziegler and (Jahmai) Mashack are two of the five best individual defenders in the country, so we just weren’t able to create enough good looks there. I thought the first 10 minutes of the game that we were getting good shots, we just didn’t make them. Down the stretch, they really make it difficult on you. I did think when we got into the paint and moved the ball, better things happened for us with the rim protection being so good. I think that’s how Vyctorius (Miller) had his open looks and Curtis (Givens III) got one late there too. We probably had some overdribbling and against a Mashack or Ziegler, that’s just not a good decision. They’re like a lock-down cornerback in the NFL. You’re not going to beat them, and when you do it’s very rare. The ball’s got to move and we were unable to make enough threes. For us to win this game or (last) Saturday’s game, we needed to shoot the ball well from three and cut the second-chance points down. We were unable to do so.”

Cam Carter
On if they feel the wins will come soon…
“I mean, we still have what three, four guaranteed games. I think we do it to ourselves a lot of times and we’re just gonna take these mistakes and then fix them and carry them onto the next game and you know, just keep getting better.”

Vyctorius Miller
On being able to make plays at the end to tighten it up…
“I would probably just say just us not giving up and showing that dog. We’re supposed to be here and I feel like that is what kicked in. Us huddling up after every dead ball was a big part of that.”

On his conference career high in points…
“Just staying with it. Even though I haven’t had the games I wanted to have, just still going to the gym in the morning, still having my same routine, just not letting up. Today was a cool day, but we still lost.”
—

Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes
On his team’s effort…
“What I make of our team tonight is their respect for LSU. I have great respect for Matt McMahon and his entire staff. When you lose players like he did early in the year, he continues to find a way to keep his guys in games. We talked a lot about it. I thought mentally, we were sloppy on offense, but they had something to do with that. They played hard and they screened hard. We felt coming in that our number one emphasis was that we had to get to the offensive board and had to get to the lane as much as we could. Jahmai Mashack’s four offensive rebounds and Igor Milicic’s four and his dunk was a big play in the game. The game was played the way we thought it would because LSU fought all year long. I have the utmost respect for what McMahon is doing and how hard his guys play.”

On Chaz Lanier’s Rebounding Impact…
“We like the fact that he’s doing that, but he needs to work harder to get about eight more shots a game. We want to get him more shots, but I think LSU did a great job defending his first actions and what we were trying to get him into. Again, we were sloppy. We had some chances to get it to him if we had cleaner passes, but we have to give the opponent credit for that when it doesn’t happen. Lanier is more than a shooter. We know he’s a terrific stand-still, spot-up shooter, but when he wants to drive the ball, he’s proven he can do that. The fact that you mentioned his rebounding, that’s something he didn’t do very much at the beginning of the year. He’s trying to impact the game in different ways.”

Here’s the recap of the game from LSUSports.net.

The LSU men’s basketball team battled hard against No. 5 Tennessee for the full 40 minutes, before falling to the Volunteers, 65-59, Tuesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Volunteers outscored LSU by three points in each half of the game and LSU was still closing the margin at the end of the game as Tennessee had a 15-point lead with 3:24 to play and LSU outscored the Vols, 13-4, to close the game for the final margin.

Vyctorius Miller led the Tigers with 17 points, hitting 6-of-11 field goals, including three treys and two free throws in 27 minutes. Cam Carter added 12 points for LSU.

Zakai Zeigler led Tennessee (23-5, 10-5) with 17 points, while Felix Okpara added 15 and Chaz Lanier 14.

Both teams posted almost the same field goal percentage with Tennessee shooting 41.1 per cent (23-of-56), while LSU was at 41.2 percent (21-of-51). LSU made seven three-pointers to six for Tennessee and Tennessee had a 13-10 advantage at the free throw line.

Tennessee had a 44-28 advantage on the boards, including 17-8 on the offensive board that helped result in a 27-8 advantage in second chance points for the Vols.

Robert Miller III led LSU with nine rebounds.

The Tigers turned the ball over 10 times to Tennessee’s 11 and the points off turnovers was almost even with LSU having a 14-13 advantage.

Tennessee built an eight-point advantage 15 minutes into the contest and held that margin until the final 2:13 when Vyctorius Miller hit a two pointer off a Tennessee turnover and Daimion Collins hit a three-pointer to cut the Vols lead at intermission to three, 26-23.

The Vols scored the first five points of the second half to go up eight and got its first double digit lead of the game at 38-28, with 14:59 to play. But LSU tried to hang with the nationally-ranked Tennessee team, cutting the lead to five twice in the mid-portion of the half down 45-40 (9:37 left) and 47-42 with 8:15 to play.

Tennessee would push the margin to 61-46 with 3:24 to play but Vyctorius Miller, Carter and Curtis Givens III would all hit three-pointers in the 13-4 run that closed the game to the final margin.

LSU will now go on the road for its final two away games of the regular season, starting Saturday at 2:30 p.m. when LSU travels to Starkville to take on Mississippi State. LSU will play at Rupp Arena against Kentucky on March 4 and close out the regular season on Saturday, March 8, at home against Texas A&M.