After the Tigers’ 80-70 loss to then-No. 15 Xavier on Saturday, LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson joked that his team wouldn’t bounce back, would all quit and turn in their jerseys.]None of the Tigers quit, but they have taken a lesson from the game.   “It’s one of those situations where you have to put it behind you and understand now we’re back into league play,” Johnson said. “We have 12 games before the SEC tournament. We have six on the road and six at home, and you have to compete at a high level like we did against Xavier.”Tonight’s game against Tennessee at 7 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena will be the Tigers’ first opportunity to bounce back.”The best thing is that we see where we are now, and it wasn’t a conference game, so we are still on top of the West,” said LSU senior guard Garrett Temple. “That will send a message when we go to Tennessee this Wednesday.”The Volunteers have the SEC’s top offense, averaging 81.2 points per game.”They are capable of going off on large scoring spurts if you’re not defending at a high rate,” Johnson said. Leading Tennessee’s offense is junior forward Tyler Smith, who is No. 7 in the conference in scoring with 17.7 points per game.”It’s hard to find something wrong with Tyler Smith,” Johnson said. “Probably the biggest compliment I can give a player like him is he probably impacts more than any other player in our league … maybe in the country.”LSU junior forward Tasmin Mitchell will have the task of guarding Smith. “Tyler Smith likes to drive the ball,” Mitchell said. “I’m just going to play, back off of him a little bit, play the drive and keep him off the offensive boards.”The Tigers’ defense, which is No. 3 in the SEC allowing just more than 62.1 points per contest, may have to defend junior forward Wayne Chism without one of its best defenders.    Johnson said Monday that Thornton was having a problem with his Achilles tendon, and he was unsure whether Thornton would make the trip to Tennessee.Thornton leads the Tigers bench in minutes played, averaging just more than 15 per game. But the Tigers’ starting big man, senior center Chris Johnson, said the Tigers are up to the challenge of trying to stop the Volunteers’ versatile post presence. “We just need to make [Chism] uncomfortable, try to make him do some things that he doesn’t want to do and keep him off the offensive boards,” Chris Johnson said. The Tigers may find success against the SEC’s worst defense, which allows 74.3 points per game.  “They are not pressuring as much because they may not be as quick or have as many athletes or speed,” Temple said. “Their pressure has lightened up a little bit, but that may be because of the two teams they played last. Defensively, they don’t take as many chances, but they are still a fast-break team.”—-Contact Amos Morale at [email protected]