When LSU trekked to Knoxville last season, it had won five of six and Johnny Jones’ first team was looking to reaffirm budding postseason rumors that surrounded it.
It even broke out the long unseen black uniforms for the pivotal midweek road game.
Tennessee responded, hitting 10 of its 15 3-pointers to run away with an 82-72 victory in Thompson-Boling Arena.
So, to open Southeastern Conference play Tuesday, LSU again changed it up against the Vols, donning purple uniforms instead of the customary home whites.
The result, however, was all too familiar.
The Volunteers (10-4, 1-0 SEC) raced out to a 16-point first half lead behind seven 3-pointers and – coupled with a second consecutive apathetic performance from LSU – the Volunteers cruised out of Baton Rouge with a 68-50 SEC opening victory.
Effort was questioned after the Tigers’ 74-70 loss against Rhode Island last Saturday, and Jones had a stern message to his players who came out flat again three days later.
“You don’t show up, put the uniform on and not be ready to play,” Jones said. “That’s not the business we have here. You won’t have a uniform here if you’re not ready to play.”
When asked if any of his players bucked the trend and are consistently competitive, Jones struggled to think of any before settling on senior forward Shavon Coleman and freshman forward Jordan Mickey.
“I’m more concerned really with our upper class, our veterans who are back,” Jones said. “[They] should be certainly competing at a different level and we’re not getting that.”
Mickey paced the anemic Tiger offense with 14 points, and junior forward Johnny O’Bryant III chipped in 11. LSU (9-4, 0-1 SEC) shot 36 percent for the game and saw its only lead disappear four minutes after the opening tip.
Tennessee moved at will on the offensive end, executing its sets in the first half amid defensive disarray for LSU. Senior Volunteer guard Jordan McRae poured in a game-high 19, while classmate Antonio Barton buried four 3-pointers in the first half to finish with 14.
“We didn’t come ready to play tonight,” said LSU junior guard Anthony Hickey. “It doesn’t matter about the lineup, we just have to come ready to play. One through 15, all of us, we didn’t come ready. We weren’t focused.”
Hickey opened the game with a 3-pointer to give LSU what would turn out to be its biggest lead of the game.
After a putback dunk from Tiger sophomore guard Malik Morgan cut the Volunteer lead to one, Tennessee started a 23-10 over the final 8:44 of the half. Barton knocked down three of his treys during that span, McRae added one for good measure, and the Volunteers took a 38-24 lead to the locker room.
During the run, it was apparent the airtight Volunteer defense would take away the Tigers’ plans inside. O’Bryant, who Jones benched against Rhode Island to send a message, was limited to 5-of-11 from the field and was one of four Tigers with two turnovers.
As a whole, the Tigers were abused on the glass, losing the rebounding battle 40-28, including a 22-12 drubbing in the second half.
“We just got out-toughed, that’s all it comes down to,” O’Bryant said. “I could have done a better job of boxing out [Tennessee junior forward Jarnell] Stokes. I allowed him to get too many offensive rebounds and that hurt us tonight.”
O’Bryant’s sentiments were echoed by Hickey, who cited a lack of focus and by Mickey, who said the team didn’t play hard.
And Jones, who hinted at changes.
“I think we’ve got to go through our whole basketball team, and everybody will certainly have to get out there and compete,” Jones said. “We don’t have anybody that’s really standing out right now.”

Gallery • 6 Photos

Taylor Balkom

LSU junior guard Anthony Hickey (1) defends Tennessee senior guard Antonio Barton (2) on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014 during the Tigers' 50-64 loss to the Volunteers in the PMAC.