The sixth Wednesday night in Knoxville, Tennessee basketball defeated LSU by a score of twenty, 88-68. After the game, Tigers head coach Matt McMahon spoke with the media to go over what went wrong for his squad.
In Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center on Wednesday night, No. 6 Tennessee basketball defeated LSU, 88-68.
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 previous 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 last 19 seasons.
After the victory, LSU coach Matt McMahon held a press conference to go over what went wrong for his squad in the Vols game. 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 impossible 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 get any closer than eight.
How much Tennessee’s quick start to the game was due to Zakai Zeigler:
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 puts, they do a fantastic job of setting up their team and directing the ball. And because of his agility and speed off the bounce, he becomes an extremely difficult cover when he is hitting well from three.
The message to his team at halftime while trailing 50-27:
“I believe we needed to work on improving our ability to stick to our best offensive strategy, which would be to have more effective ball security on offense. Perform better when it comes to offensive execution. Afterwards, when it came to defense, they consistently made us pay because they put so much pressure on you throughout transitions and we did a bad job of regaining the upper hand and setting up our defense. The three then took a step forward and made numerous open shots.
“However, if you look at Tennessee, I believe that in their victories, they average 19 assists a game, and in their defeats, they average about 10. They’re among the finest teams in the nation, in my opinion, when it comes to moving and screening the ball. The ball screen has taken center stage in college basketball. I believe that Tennessee is special because of their ability to move without the basketball, set off ball screens, and perform exceptionally well.
What LSU did in an attempt to impede Tennessee’s 27-point scorer, Dalton Knecht:
It’s crucial, in my opinion, to recognize that Knecht is surrounded by excellent players. Some of their players possess more experience than NBA starting fives. I believe it’s evident that he has developed into a top-10 NBA prospect, but if you focus only on him, Ziegler and (Josiah-Jordan) James will score fifty-two points, just as they did on Saturday. It’s a difficult cover because of their balance, as well as the fact that they are very effective offensively and have excellent defensive play this season. Therefore, the only objective is to force them to work and attempt to make his shots as challenging as possible.
