Rain and hail splashed over the PMAC on Wednesday night. Inside the arena, LSU guard Darrel Mitchell rained on Tennessee.
Mitchell, a sophomore guard from St. Martinville, buried six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 22 points to lead LSU to a convincing 84-67 Southeastern Conference win over Tennessee before 6, 289 fans.
“We all kind of gathered ourselves together and said we had to get this win,” Mitchell said. “We came in and played an excellent game tonight.”
The Tigers (15-4, 5-3) shot 60 percent from the field, including 10-of-18 from downtown, and extended their winning streak to three games. Tennessee fell to 11-7 and 3-5 in the league.
The Tigers improved their record to 41-0 in games where they scored more than 80 points under coach John Brady.
“I can’t tell you what it means to make a few shots from the perimeter and how it can change the whole look of our team,” Brady said. “I’ve said all along that we don’t need to make every shot. We just need to make some timely shots. We did that tonight and made a lot of good timely shots.”
Mitchell hit 6-of-9 from behind the arc and scored 13 of his points in the second half. Forward Jaime Lloreda scored 18 points, despite being in foul trouble most of the second half and Antonio Hudson had 17 and hit 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Freshmen Tack Minor and Brandon Bass each scored 10 points.
Along with his career-best scoring performance, Mitchell also chipped in eight assists and did not have a turnover.
“Darrel Mitchell had a great game,” Brady said. “You can’t get much better than that. He sparks the team. He sparked them off the bench and he sparks them as a starter. He’s just a good solid player. Darrel doesn’t mind at all whether he comes off the bench or is starting.”
Mitchell buried his first 3-pointer with LSU trailing 6-2 early in the first half and did not look back. He said after he made the first shot, he could feel he was in for a big night.
“When I took that first long shot, it just kind of ran through my body,” Mitchell said. “It felt good every time I took a shot and when it feels good, you just have a lot of confidence.”
LSU also showed it could hang in there with Lloreda on the bench.
The Tigers led 38-34 at halftime and 49-42 with 14:26 left in the second half when Lloreda left the game with his fourth foul. Over the next eight and a half minutes, LSU outscored the Volunteers 19-11. Mitchell hit another trey with 6:11 left for a 15-point lead.
“I think that’s another confidence building experience for our team playing against a good Tennessee team playing without Jaime for that number of minutes and do some positive things and increase the score,” Brady said. “If we can grow from that, that’s better for our team as a whole.”
Lloreda, who also grabbed 12 rebounds, said one of the benefits of being on the bench at the time was getting to watch Mitchell do his thing.
“I just saw Darrel getting open, playing relaxed and watched him do his thing,” he said. “It’s pretty good for him. It’s good for our team because it gives us confidence.”
The Tigers outrebounded the Vols 34-28. Scooter McFadgon scored 21 points and Brandon Crump and Jemere Hendrix each scored 12 for Tennessee. One of the Vols’ leading scorers, C.J. Watson was held to six points.
Brady said he was proud of the Tigers for their effort but was also impressed with Tennessee.
“I thought Tennessee played pretty good defense,” Brady said. “I thought they were quick. I thought they were active. I thought they tried. I think tonight we just happened to be a little bit better.”