By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU was without a third key player because of injury Saturday and dressed out only eight players, but somehow put forth one of its best performances of the season at Southeastern Conference contender at Tennessee.
In the end, though, it ended as it usually has the last two seasons in the SEC for the Tigers – with a loss, 73-63, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
LSU (14-11, 2-10 SEC) trailed by 12 in the first half before cutting it to 35-29 at the half. Then the Tigers went on a 9-0 run in the second half and led briefly by three points but could not maintain that and never led again.
LSU improved its three-point shooting drastically as it made 8 of 23. But Tennessee (18-7, 8-4 SEC) dominated LSU on the boards, 45-24, including 16-8, on offensive rebounds, and 22-4 on second-chance points.
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“I really loved the spirit and competitiveness,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said. “Disappointed with the outcome, but I thought we had a lot of fight. Our eight guys left it all out on the floor.”
LSU played its fourth straight game and ninth of 12 league games without point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. because of a foot injury, and McMahon announced early Saturday that Thomas was done for the season and will have surgery. Thomas averaged 15.3 points and 6.5 assists in 16 games on the season.
The Tigers were also without another top scorer in guard/forward Max Mackinnon, who was averaging 15 points a game. He injured his knee in the Tigers’ previous game, tried to play Saturday, but was held out of the lineup. And the Tigers have not had junior starting power forward Jalen Reed since early in the season because of an Achilles injury.
But LSU was within striking distance throughout the second half until the final moments.
Freshman Jalen Reece, who has often replaced Thomas in the lineup, played the best game of his career with 15 points and four assists with zero turnovers. He hit 3 of 5 from three-point range.
“Jalen Reece really grew up tonight,” McMahon said. “He did a great job organizing us on offense and didn’t have a turnover.”
Marquel Sutton led the Tigers with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Pablo Tamba added 13 and Michael Nwoko 10.
Nate Maent led Tennessee with 22 points and nine rebounds, while 6-foot-11 center J.P. Estrella scored 16 points with nine rebounds.
McMahon successfully kept LSU in the game throughout by constantly switching from a 2-3 zone to man-to-man that kept the Vols’ offense off balance.
“But the story of the game was we couldn’t get enough defensive rebounds,” McMahon said.
And the story of McMahon’s stay at LSU remained a coach trying to beat SEC teams with Sun Belt players as the Tigers continue to have one of the lowest ranked roster budgets in the league.
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