Tennessee basketball is headed back on the road Tuesday night where they’re facing LSU in Baton Rouge.
The Vols are coming off perhaps their best win of the season at Texas A&M while LSU is near the bottom of the SEC standings but has played better as of late, winning two of its last three games.
Here’s everything to know about the SEC matchup.
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How To Watch — No. 5 Tennessee (22-5, 9-5 SEC) at LSU (14-13, 3-11 SEC)
- Start Time: 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT
- Location: Pete Maravich Assembly Center
- Watch: SEC Network. PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Dane Bradshaw, Sideline: Alyssa Lang
- Online Streaming: Watch ESPN
- Radio (Knoxville): The Vol Network/The Vol Network App
Betting Lines
- Tennessee -10.5 LSU
- Over/under 137.5
- Tennessee -11 LSU
- Over/under: 133
What Tennessee AC Rod Clark Said About The Tigers
On what’s been different about LSU the last few weeks
“I mean, last game Florida came out and really took it to him. Kind of punched them in the mouth early and then they responded with a 22-2 run. And usually I think that’s a testament to Coach McMahon and his staff. Usually at this time of year when you know you have a record like they have and guys find a reason to not play for anything because it’s not a lot that they really have right, that they could play for right now. But to see them go on a 22-2 run against a team like Florida, it just shows that they still have a lot of fight and they want to play good basketball, they want to be a competitive team. So this is not a game that we’re walking into thinking that it is just gonna be a walk in the park and they just going to lay down. Like we understand that they’re still here to play basketball. They still want to be a force, they want to be respected in the league, right? As all teams do. You just saw that from South Carolina this past weekend. Like they have every reason in the world to give up right now and they still haven’t. So it’s not any situation we can walk into and feel like we’re just going to walk out there, show up and we’re going to win a game. So we don’t have that approach. We respect those guys. We expect them to give us a really good fight. We expect us to give them a really good fight.”
On what stands out about LSU’s Robbert Miller
“We recruited Robert for a little bit. Robert’s a really good player. He’s about 6-foot-9 really good hands. He’s long, he’s an athletic, super talented kid. He comes from a really good family.Robert’s a really good player. He’s somebody we’re definitely focused on. Obviously he had a really good outing last game, so it’s going to be a lot of attention put on him. And when you’re a freshman in this league and you have attention getting put on you from one of the best defenses in the country, that’s a testament to the work he’s put in and how good he’s been.”
On what Kansas State transfer Cam Carter is doing differently this year to improve his numbers
“I think he’s just as aggressive. I think he’s just older and learning how to take his shots, get to his spots, and then obviously he’s playing in an offense that really is predicated towards letting him play a lot of ball screens and play freely and play with a faster pace. So Cam Carter is, I mean, the last three years, he’s been one of the better scorers in college basketball. He’s a really effective player. Obviously he plays with a lot of aggression, can really get to the rim, can really shoot the ball. So if you look at his numbers and as a scorer in the SEC, they’re super efficient, which is impressive because as talented as these guys are, it’s actually really hard to be efficient as a leading scorer in this league because you’re number one on the scouting report. You know, everybody knows that you’re a guy that’s gonna get the ball, you’re a guy that’s gonna take shots. So the fact that he’s been able to be efficient and be effective is pretty impressive.
“So we’re definitely going into this game, understanding he’s a guy that we have to contain and make things tough on him. And that’s our plan. We wanna make things as tough as we can on him and hopefully we come out on top at the end of the night.”
Probable Starters
Tennessee (via UT Game Notes):
LSU (via LSU Game Notes):
Team Statistics (via KenPom)
Tennessee:
LSU:
Individual Stat Leaders
Tennessee:
Points: Chaz Lanier — 18 PPG, 42.4 FG%, 41.4 3PT%
Rebounds: Igor Milicic — 7.6 RPG, 5.5 DRPG, 2.1 ORPG
Assists: Zakai Zeigler — 7.5 APG, 3.0 TOPG, 34.4 MPG
LSU:
Points: Cam Carter — 16.9 PPG, 43.5 FG%, 39.8 3PT%
Rebounds: Corey Chest — 6.8 RPG, 4.3 DRPG, 2.5 ORPG
Assists: Jordan Sears — 2.7 APG, 2.3 TOPG, 25.8 MPG
Last Five Games
Tennessee:
- 77-69 win at Texas A&M
- 81-76 win versus Vanderbilt
- 75-64 loss at Kentucky
- 70-52 win at Oklahoma
- 85-81 win versus Missouri
LSU:
- 79-65 loss versus Florida
- 81-67 win versus South Carolina
- 82-79 win at LSU
- 70-58 loss at Arkansas
- 72-70 loss versus Ole Miss
Prediction
LSU is one of the SEC’s worst teams but has played a bit better as of late. Two of their three SEC wins have come in the last two weeks and they led Florida in the second half on Saturday.
Tennessee is coming off its best win of the season and should be able to suffocate LSU’s lackluster offense. Rebounding should also be a plus for Tennessee. If the Vols make perimeter shots, this game shouldn’t be competitive.
Tennessee 72, LSU 58
