KNOXVILLE — Despite some bright moments and a new player who showed some promise, Tennessee’s men’s basketball team opened the Southeastern Conference portion of its schedule on a losing note Saturday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Volunteers dropped a 78-64 decision to LSU, which has won its last nine conference road games and is the league’s defending regular-season champion.
The Vols (8-5 overall, 0-1 SEC) was hot early as they knocked down nine shots from beyond the 3-point arc over the first 20 minutes of the contest. Tennessee has now lost three of its last four games in Knoxville.
The Vols, despite some early hot shooting, found itself down 38-37 at halftime. The Big Orange, which led for much of the opening half, went ahead 39-38 just after the break, but the shots just didn’t fall for Tennessee after halftime.
The Tigers (9-4, 1-0) dominated the game inside and had three players post double figures in the scoring column.
Javonte Smart scored 21 points. Skylar Mays totaled 17 points and grabbed five rebounds while Trendon Watford finished with 15 points and nine boards.
Yves Pons scored 18 points for Tennessee, which got a spark from new point guard Santiago Vescovi, who scored 18 points and made six long-range jumpers.
He also had six rebounds and dished out four assists, and did, however, finish the game with several turnovers.
Josiah-Jordan James had a career-high 15 points for the Vols.