KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The LSU Tigers, one game removed from a night when it hit a school record 16 treys, upped the school mark one more to 17 in LSU’s first road win of the season, 88-67, over the University of Tennessee here Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
One night before pop diva Cher would sing her hit song “Believe” in the building, LSU had Tennessee and 15,348 of their fans believing that LSU’s shooting performance of Wednesday night was no fluke. Working the motion offense to perfection, LSU would make the extra pass and often find an open shooter for a three and then LSU would make the connection in the bottom of the net.
The Tigers are now 17-9 on the season and suddenly 6-8 in the SEC with two games to play. Tennessee drops to 15-10 and 7-7 after losing four straight games.
Collis Temple III, who had 30 points two years ago at Thompson-Boling, had a career high tying six treys (6-of-8) and finished with 23 points in 30 minutes to lead LSU. Ronald Dupree, hitting all four of his trey attempts, had 22 points and six assists, while Torris Bright had 19 points and his third five assists, no turnover game of the season. For the night, LSU would hit 30-of-55 shots (54.5 percent) and 17-of-27 three pointers (63.0%) with 27 assists and just six turnovers.
“Winning on the road is about execution,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “It also helps to make a few shots. We made 30 baskets and had 27 assists. Fifteen assists would be normal, that shows a team that is sharing the ball, making the extra pass and getting quality shots. We’re playing with a lot of confidence. Those numbers are pretty good for our team and I am proud of them.”
In the last two games, LSU has had 62 buckets and 53 assisted baskets.
Tennessee’s Ron Slay, one of the top candidates for Player of the Year in the SEC had 19 points and nine rebounds, but also eight turnovers in 38 minutes. Jon Higgins had 18 points and five assists, while Thaydeus Holden added 11. Tennessee hit nine treys (21 attempts, 42 percent) and shot 48 percent from the field.
“Give LSU credit for shooting the ball like they did,” said Tennessee Coach Buzz Peterson. “They really knocked down the 3-pointers. We’re not playing defense with the energy and the intensity that we did two weeks ago. At the half, I felt okay with only a 14-point deficit. We got the momentum going for a little while in the second half, but then LSU opened it up again. LSU is a team that is playing with confidence and knocking down its shots.”
For the third straight game, LSU put its stamp on the proceedings early on opening a 10-0 lead before Tennessee called time out to regroup at the 17:47 mark. Ronald Dupree opened the game with a three, Torris Bright hit a trey, Jaime Lloreda hit a jumper and Dupree, off the break, had a dunk.
Tennessee tried to get back in the game, cutting it to 11-6 before LSU went on another run with Xavier Whipple hitting a three and Bright adding two more along with a fast break jam by Brad Bridgewater which gave LSU a 28-8 advantage and forced another UT timeout at the 10:54 mark.
Tennessee had some success from the arc late in the first half hitting three treys in the final 2:21 to cut the LSU lead to 44-33 at the break.
In the opening half, LSU hit 18-of-29 field goals (62.1 percent) and 8-of-11 three-pointers (72.7 percent) after hitting 10-of-12 treys in the first half against Auburn on Wednesday. The Tigers had 16 first-half assists and just four turnovers.
Tennessee scored the first bucket of the second half to cut the LSU lead to 12, 47-35 and eventually got it 49-40 but the three started falling again as Collis Temple III hit two and Bright one to put it back to 58-40 with 16:17 to go. The lead continued to expand, as with a 66-46 lead, LSU’s next five baskets were threes, giving LSU a 78-52 lead with 8:20 to play. Bright’s three with 8:20 gave LSU a school record tying 16 treys and Dupree posted the 17th for an 87-61 lead with 3:24 left.
“I think we made a statement,” said Brady. “This is a good Tennessee team, and we came in here and controlled the game from the opening tip.”
The Tigers travel to Oxford Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. game at Ole Miss. The Rebels face Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Sunday.