If you were to imagine the most satisfying way to beat Will Wade and LSU, you might’ve come close today. Wire-to-wire beatdowns are fun, and we did look to be on our way there for a minute. Close game decided at the buzzer carries its own satisfaction, a moment that could live forever. But there was something incredibly satisfying about jumping to a 14-0 lead, then LSU getting close, only to be denied, repeatedly, by Tennessee. Through all the chipiness, which the Vols gave as good as they got:
That’s Uros Plavsic, whose season high last year was four points. He played five minutes against Villanova and five at Colorado. He found his way to 12 points and seven rebounds in Baton Rouge, a Tennessee comeback that came up short.
He did not come up short today: 12 points, six boards, and a crucial block to silence one of those would-be LSU runs. Will Wade did not agree with the call.
Will Wade has not agreed with Tennessee. The 2018 Vols waxed his first LSU team 84-61 in Knoxville. Since then, the Tigers had won four in a row, including a game we did not agree with in Baton Rouge the following year. That was followed by Santiago Vescovi’s debut, where he made six threes and committed nine turnovers. That was followed by a 78-65 win in Baton Rouge last year, then the Tiger victory two weeks ago.
There have been plenty of emotions swinging this way and that in those two weeks. Tennessee gave up 107 points at Rupp and sought to change their vibe. LSU lost Xavier Pinson in the UT game and has now lost three in a row. Wade took center stage after the Alabama defeat, which got him plenty of camera time today…which ultimately, I’m going to say Tennessee fans enjoyed.
And this is a win to be enjoyed.
A five-point halftime lead was 12 at the under 12, then 15 with nine to play. LSU came knocking, cutting it to six with five to go. But then: Fulkerson for two, Uros with the block, Zeigler for three, then those two with four straight free throws. LSU sat on 45 points from the five minute mark until 1:27 remained. And ultimately, it’s a 14-point victory for the good guys.
It would’ve been one thing to just stay white hot from the arc, which is how the Vols started. But the final number landed at 10-of-28 (35.7%): good, really good for Tennessee, but nothing crazy. The Vols didn’t need insanity to win.
They needed their defense, alive and well after Lexington: 14 turnovers for the Tigers, and only eight offensive rebounds allowed. But they also needed something more on the offensive end, especially against LSU’s defense.
Coming into league play, we thought there would be nights when Kennedy Chandler just took over. We thought there would be nights when the three ball indeed did the damage. And we’d just seen a healthy John Fulkerson put the team on his back against what very much appears to be a number one seed.
Since then, we haven’t seen any one of those things manifest itself again. Chandler and Fulkerson missed the opener at Alabama with covid. Before today, UT’s only league game where they hit over 33% from the arc was the one where they gave up 107 points. Tennessee’s offense was struggling.
What did it do well against LSU’s number one defense today? The biggest thing to me: get good shots. Plan A may not be Kennedy Chandler or John Fulkerson or heave and hope. I think Plan A will look more like making sure every shot is a good one.
Today, the Vols had 18 assists on 22 made shots. Kennedy Chandler was 4-of-13 from the floor, but had six assists to one turnover. And Santiago Vescovi was money from three, finishing with 16 points (5-of-11 from the arc), five assists, and six rebounds.
Right now, no team in the nation has played better defenses than Tennessee. The Vols are first in KenPom’s defensive strength of schedule rating. But in passing the stiffest test there tonight, the Vols don’t just survive to figure it out against weaker defenses going forward. Tennessee got an offensive performance good enough to beat the nation’s best defense, without weirdness, from the full cast of characters. It’s a rotation that tightened to include both 10 minutes from Justin Powell and seven from Jahmai Mashack.
When we say the SEC is good, we don’t have the right words for it. Because it’s never been as good as it is right now in my lifetime. In our league preview on December 28, we looked at the number of SEC teams to finish in the KenPom Top 20. The league has only had five teams finish in the Top 20 once: 2006, with Florida (1), LSU (11), Tennessee (17), South Carolina (19), and Arkansas (20).
Right now: Auburn (5), Kentucky (6), LSU (11), Tennessee (13), Alabama (16). Florida, next on our schedule, feels like a break at 29th.
This thing is going to be a fight every night. Auburn is both so far in front and so advantaged in their own schedule, maybe it’s a good idea to stop worrying about trying to win the league and keep worrying about getting better. But right now, the Vols are a three seed in Bart Torvik’s predictive bracketology. It’s a good goal: a three keeps you away from the very best teams in college basketball until the Elite Eight.
The Vols are going to see plenty of those very best teams in this league. But tonight, the Vols made you believe they’ll continue to be one of them.
Great win. Go Vols.
