Field Level Media
Jan 22, 2022
Santiago Vescovi scored 16 points and Uros Plavsic added 12 as No. 24 Tennessee defeated No. 13 LSU 64-50 on Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn.
Vescovi made 5 of 11 3-pointers, which were his only field-goal attempts, and the Volunteers (13-5, 4-3 SEC) finished 10 of 28 on 3-pointers.
Tari Eason scored 16 before fouling out with four minutes remaining, Brandon Murray added 15 points and Eric Gaines scored 10 to lead the Tigers (15-4, 3-4), who lost their third straight game and had their lowest-scoring output of the season.
LSU, which defeated Tennessee 79-67 on Jan. 8 in Baton Rouge, La., shot 38.9 percent from the floor, including 21.1 percent on 3-pointers.
Gaines' jumper started the second-half scoring and pulled the Tigers within 29-26 before they went cold.
Josiah-Jordan James answered with a 3-pointer to start an 8-0 run for the Volunteers as LSU went scoreless for 5 1/2 minutes.
Eason's jumper ended LSU's drought, but Vescovi's 3-pointer and Kennedy Chandler's layup increased the Volunteers' lead to 42-28.
The Tigers trimmed the deficit to 10 before John Fulkerson scored four straight points to help Tennessee take a 47-32 lead with nine minutes remaining.
LSU chipped away and Eason's three-point play cut the deficit to 51-45 with five minutes remaining, but the Volunteers scored the next 13 points.
Tennessee made four 3-pointers as it opened a 14-0 lead. LSU missed its first seven shots and had three turnovers before Darius Days' jumper ended the scoring drought with 13:41 left in the first half.
Efton Reid added a tip-in for the Tigers before Justin Powell's 3-pointer gave the Volunteers a 17-4 lead.
Eason's 3-pointer started an 8-0 run that pulled LSU within five points.
Vescovi's 3-pointer ended a Tennessee scoring drought of 3 1/2 minutes and helped the Volunteers take a 25-17 lead.
Tennessee went scoreless for more than five minutes, and the Tigers scored seven straight to get within one point.
Plavsic's dunk ended the Volunteers' drought and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield beat the buzzer with a tip-in that gave Tennessee a 29-24 halftime lead.
--Field Level Media