LSU coach on Zakai Zeigler, Jahmai Mashack: 'They're like a lockdown NFL cornerback'

As if Saturday wasn’t bad enough, when LSU had to host No. 2 Florida and the Gators’ seventh-ranked defense, No. 5 Tennessee and its top-ranked defense came to town Tuesday night.

The Vols left an impression.

“I certainly want to give Tennessee their credit,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said Tuesday night, after LSU’s 65-59 loss at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. “I think Tennessee with their physicality and toughness were really disruptive.”

Tennessee held LSU to 25.9% shooting from the 3-point line, forced 10 turnovers and held an opponent under 60 points for the seventh time in SEC play in the win in Baton Rouge.

Zakai Zeigler scored a team-high 17 points for the Vols (23-5, 10-5 SEC) and had three assists. Felix Okpara scored 15 points on a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the field, going 3-for-3 at the foul line, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking two shots.

Chaz Lanier had 14 points and a season-high nine rebounds to help Tennessee dominate on the glass, as the Vols out-rebounded LSU 44-28, including 17-8 on the offensive glass, leading to a season-high 27 second-chance points.

But that’s not what McMahon was talking about after the game. 

“I’d argue Zeigler and (Jahmai) Mashack are two of the five best individual defenders in the country,” McMahon said, “so we just weren’t able to create enough good looks there.”

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee vs. No. 6 Alabama, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN

Vyctorious Miller scored 17 points for LSU (14-14, 3-12) and Cam Carter had 12. 

“I thought the first 10 minutes of the game that we were getting good shots,” McMahon said, “we just didn’t make them. Down the stretch, they really make it difficult on you.”

Carter is LSU’s leading scorer and is ninth in the SEC at 16.7 points per game. But he needed 10 shots from the field and five points at the foul line to score his 12 points while matched up most of the night against Mashack. 

Carter finished 3-for-10 shooting, including 1-for-6 at the 3-point line. 

“We talked about (Carter) coming in,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said, “and what he’s been able to do. And we’ve been blessed to have Jahmai with us. I mean, he came in with that (defensive) attitude.”

Zeigler is the defending SEC Defensive Player of the Year while Mashack is widely regarded as one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. 

The duo has Tennessee ranked No. 1 in KenPom.com‘s adjusted defensive efficiency, where the Vols have spent the last few weeks, now giving up just 87.6 points per 100 possessions. 

“We probably had some over-dribbling,” McMahon said, “and against a Mashack or Zeigler that’s just not a good decision. They’re like a lockdown 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.”

Rick Barnes on Jahmai Mashack: ‘I’m just glad that we have him’

What Barnes was able to do was keep relying on Mashack — he scored nine points to go with eight rebounds, an assist and a steal in 36 minutes — to keep Tennessee’s defense locked down.

“That’s what he has done the entire time he’s been at Tennessee,” Barnes said. “He’s taken great pride in being able to do that. 

“And when you have to go up against guys like Cam Carter and other guys in this league every night, it’s something special about his DNA that makes him do that and want to do it. I’m just glad that we have him.”