A career night from Tennessee junior guard Jordan McRae was too much for the LSU men’s basketball team to overcome as it fell to the Volunteers 82-72 on Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
McRae made all six of his 3-point shots as he dropped 34 points, nearly two-and-a-half times his season average of 13.8 points per game.
“We just didn’t have an answer for guarding Jordan McRae,” said LSU coach Johnny Jones in a post-game radio interview. “… I thought our guys did give great effort, making him play up over the top of us, as was the plan. But I thought he was really good in terms of midrange game, knocking down threes, and I thought he was a big difference in the ball game tonight.”
Tennessee (15-10, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) came into Tuesday night’s matchup riding the momentum of a three-game winning streak, its most recent victory coming in the form of an 88-58 obliteration of then-No. 25 Kentucky on Saturday.
LSU (15-9, 6-7 SEC) brought in a little streak of its own, winning six of its last eight contests behind great shooting efforts. But the Volunteers outshot the Tigers, shooting 59 percent and making four of their six 3-point attempts in the first half en route to a 40-30 lead at the break.
McRae and fellow junior guard Trae Golden both exceeded their season scoring averages by halftime with 14 points apiece.
The Tigers and Volunteers opened the second half by trading 3-point blows for about five minutes, and Jones turned to his vaunted full-court pressure as his squad continued to flirt with an 11-point deficit. But Tennessee consistently broke the LSU press, and its offensive efficiency kept the Tigers at bay.
Sophomore forward Johnny O’Bryant III paced the Tigers with 24 points and eight rebounds, but he fouled out while jostling for a rebound with 3:21 left in the game. O’Bryant spent most of the night battling with Tennessee sophomore forward Jarnell Stokes, whose 13 points and 11 rebounds gave him his 11th double-double of the season, tied with O’Bryant for most in the SEC.
LSU cut the Volunteer lead to six a few times, but the Tigers were never able to get over the hump.
“We did a great job early on,” Jones said. “We turned them over, sped them up a little bit. But again, they settled in on the back side of [the press], and they got good looks, got some set shots, and knocked down some threes.”
The Tigers’ Tuesday night tilt with Tennessee marked their third game in six days, and they will get an extended rest before hosting Alabama at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the PMAC.
LSU's Johnny O'Bryant III scores in front of Tennessee's Jarnell Stokes during an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013, in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee won 82-72. (AP Photo/The Knoxville News Sentinel, Saul Young)
