BATON ROUGE, La. — The LSU fans that sold out the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana chanted “overrated” at Tennessee, as the 21st-ranked Tigers beat the 18th-ranked Vols, 79-67, on Saturday evening.
The loss drops UT’s record to 10-4 overall and 1-2 in SEC play. Tennessee is now 0-4 in Baton Rouge under Rick Barnes.
Tennessee opened the matchup on a 9-3 run. Then, LSU scored 21 of the game’s next 27 points. The Tigers finished the first half shooting 53% and took a 42-35 lead into halftime.
The Vols began to fall further behind in the second half. LSU used an 11-0 run to take a 20-point lead, early in the period. The Tigers held a double-digit lead until the 4:40 mark. That’s when a pair of Kennedy Chandler free throws lessened Tennessee’s deficit to nine points. After drawing a foul on a three-point attempt, Chandler made another free throw to make it an eight-point game with 3:29 to go.
Santiago Vescovi knocked down a three to bring Tennessee’s deficit to five. However, LSU made a layup and emphatic dunk to re-extend the lead back to nine.
Tennessee returns to Knoxville to play South Carolina on Jan. 11 at Thomspon-Boling Arena.
