After scoring 103 points at Kentucky this past Saturday night, the Vols tallied 88 points, 50 of which came in the first half. Tennessee made 31 of 56 shots from the field, 11 of 24 three-pointers, and 15 of 20 free throws from the charity stripe.
Once again, Dalton Knecht led the way for the Vols. In just his 22nd game as a Vol, the fifth-year guard scored 27 points to mark his 10th 20-point performance of the year. Now, in seven of the last eight games, he has scored at least twenty.
Knecht flirted with a triple-double by shooting 9 of 19 from the field and 2 of 5 from three, while also pulling down seven rebounds, six assists, three blocks, and two steals. In an SEC game, he becomes the first player from Tennessee to have 20 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three rebounds in at least the past 19 seasons.
After the victory, LSU coach Matt McMahon met with the media to go over what went wrong for his squad in the Vols defeat. This concludes McMahon’s remarks.
“Congrats to Tennessee! They are undoubtedly among the top five teams in the nation for a reason. We were unable to respond to their impressive first-half performance on either end of the floor. I was pleased with our players’ effort to cut it to eight in the second half. However, once you create such a large hole for yourself, it will be hard to escape. When you consider Tennessee’s offensive production—23 assists—and their clear three-point shooting prowess in the first half, you have to admit that we were definitely troubled by the pressure.
“In the second half, we played the way we wanted to play. tended to the ball. Our offensive play was well-coordinated, we moved the ball well, and we made good shots. We succeeded in setting up our defense, making several stops, and regaining control of the situation. However, I simply ran out of gas there to go any closer than eight.
Indeed, he is an excellent point guard. We are all aware of the significance and worth of excellent point-guard play. You observed his performance on Saturday in Lexington. Really carried that over to tonight. He made several huge threes while we were late on some closeouts to him. Simply said, they do a fantastic job of setting up their squad and directing the ball. And because of his agility and speed off the bounce, he becomes an extremely tough cover when he is hitting well from three.
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