Felix Okpara lifts No. 5 Tennessee to another road win at LSU, 65-59
Zakai Zeigler had a three-point play opportunity with eight minutes left late Tuesday night, with No. 5 Tennessee up by nine points and looking to put away LSU on the road.
Zeigler missed the foul shot, but it didn’t matter. Felix Okpara grabbed the rebound, put it back on the glass and scored to get the lead to 11.
That’s exactly what the Vols needed and exactly what they got from Okpara in a 65-59 win over LSU inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge.
Okpara, the 6-foot-11, 235-pound junior big man and Ohio State transfer, scored 15 points, had seven rebounds and blocked two shots to help carry Tennessee (23-5, 10-5 SEC) to a second straight road win. Zeigler finished with a game-high 17 points, three assists and two steals.
Chaz Lanier scored 14 points and added nine rebounds and Jahmai Mashack scored nine points and had seven rebounds, a steal and an assist.
LSU (14-14, 3-12) got 17 points from Vyctorious Miller and 12 from Cam Carter.
Okpara finished a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and went 3-for-3 at the foul line, finishing his own three-point play with 16:05 left to stretch Tennessee’s lead to eight.
The Vols dominated LSU on the glass, out-rebounding the Tigers 44-28, including 17-8 on the offensive glass, and had a season-high 27 second-chance points to LSU’s eight.
Tuesday’s game finished a five-game stretch that featured four road games. Tennessee went 4-1, with wins at Oklahoma, Texas A&M and LSU, a home win over Vanderbilt and a road loss at Kentucky.
Tennessee led 26-23 after sloppy first half
Zeigler banked in a deep 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock with 2:13 left in the first half, building Tennessee’s lead to eight at 26-18, its biggest of the half. But LSU closed with five straight points and the Vols led just 26-23 at the break, after sloppy first half.
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Zeigler had six points and Lanier had five points and seven rebounds, but Tennessee couldn’t put any distance between itself and LSU despite the Tigers at one point going 6:49 without scoring.
The Vols had eight turnovers that LSU turned into six points, but the Tigers shot just 3-for-15 from the 3-point line in the first half. Tennessee out-rebounded LSU 22-13 in the first half, including 6-2 on the offensive glass, and had nine second-chance points.
Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee vs. No. 6 Alabama
After playing four of its last five games on the road, Tennessee returns home to host No. 6 Alabama on Saturday in a 4 p.n. Eastern Time start on ESPN inside a sold-out and orange-out Food City Center.
Alabama, which hosted Mississippi State Tuesday night, beat Kentucky 96-83 in Tuscaloosa Saturday night, bouncing back from back-to-back losses at Missouri, 110-98, and at home to No. 1 Auburn, 94-85.
Alabama is currently projected as a No. 1 seed and the No. 3 overall seed in ESPN Bracketology from Joe Lunardi, who had the Vols as his No. 6 overall seed.
After going to Tennessee, the Crimson Tide closes the regular-season with a home game against No. 2 Florida on March 5, then goes to No. 1 Auburn on March 8. Tennessee closes with a road trip to Ole Miss on March 5 and Senior Day against South Carolina on March 8 in Knoxville.
