LSU’s men’s basketball team ultimately couldn’t keep the momentum from the Arkansas win going on the road against a top-10 opponent. The Tigers fell at Tennessee 88-68, dropping to 12-10 on the year and 4-5 in SEC play.
With [autotag]Jalen Cook[/autotag] unavailable, LSU had about the worst start to the game possible. Tennessee jumped out to an early 13-0 lead, and while the Tigers would respond to cut the deficit to just six, they couldn’t hold off the Volunteers for long.
The Vols shot 58.1% with three players scoring in double figures, led by Dalton Knecht, and LSU struggled to keep up with a sub-40% shooting percentage as Tennessee raced out to a 50-27 halftime lead.
LSU would not go down without a fight in the second half, however. It trailed by 23 at the nine-minute mark, but a 13-0 run cut the Tennessee lead to just 10.
However, the Tigers never got it back within single digits as the Volunteers pulled away to a 20-point win in the final minutes after shooting above 50% for the game.
LSU had an encouraging performance on the boards, outrebounding the Vols 40-26 as [autotag]Trae Hannibal[/autotag] led the way with 11, but it shot just 41.4%. Only [autotag]Will Baker[/autotag] (16 points) and [autotag]Derek Fountain[/autotag] (11) scored in double figures.
Tennessee, meanwhile, had four. LSU had particular difficulty containing Knecht, who went off for a game-high 27 points.
It’s a disappointing loss, but it’s one LSU can’t dwell on as it has another huge opportunity coming up on Saturday when it hosts Alabama, which is coming off a road loss to rival Auburn on Wednesday night.
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