Live Updates: No. 9 Tennessee at LSU
No. 9 Tennessee is back on the road at LSU on Saturday for a 4 p.m. Eastern Time start inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. The shorthanded Vols came back from down nine points in the first half to win 70-59 at Mississippi State on Tuesday.
Follow along here for live in-game updates on The General’s Quarters
Tennessee (15-3, 5-1 SEC) was missing senior guards Santiago Vescovi (shoulder) and Tyreke Key (illness) on Tuesday. Both players returned to practice on Thursday at Pratt Pavilion.
LSU (12-6, 1-5) started the season with 12 wins over its first 13 games, but is currently riding a five-game losing streak under first-year Tiger coach Matt McMahon, who was hired away from Murray State to replace Will Wade, who was fired last March.
Tennessee at LSU: How to watch, stream, listen
Tipoff Time: 4 p.m. ET, Saturday
Location: Pete Maravich Assembly Center
TV: ESPN
Streaming: ESPN App or WatchESPN.com
Radio: WNML-FM 99.1 in Knoxville. The Vol Network radio broadcast (Bob Kesling – play-by-play – Bert Bertelkamp, analyst) can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee.
A closer look at LSU
LSU is No. 107 overall in the KenPom.com ratings, second lowest among SEC teams. The Tigers are ranked No. 95 in adjusted defensive efficiency and No. 140 overall in offensive efficiency.
The five-game losing streak includes home games against Auburn and Florida and road games at Kentucky, Texas A&M and Florida.
Matt McMahon, a native of Oak Ridge, Tenn., was a graduate assistant at Tennessee under Buzz Peterson during the 2001-02 season. He went 154-67 in seven seasons at Murray State, including a 31-3 record last season, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“The fact that Matt has been able to go in there,” Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinksy said on Thursday, “and, I think he added what, 12, 13 new players to his roster. That is so hard to do. And to get those guys to play. I know they’ve struggled here the last couple games, but they’ve also played at Alabama, arguably the most talented team there will be, that we’ll see this year, and Auburn is playing really well.
“But I think over the course of the season, particularly until they got into SEC play, his team has played at a high level. They’ve been competitive. I think that’s all you can ask of a team in their first year.”
Tennessee has lost its last four games at LSU — 79-67 last season, 78-65 in February 2021, 82-80 in February 2019 and 92-82 in March 2017.
The last time the Vols won in Baton Rouge was 78-63 on March 4, 2015, when Tennessee got 20 points from Josh Richardson, 19 points and eight rebounds from Armani Moore, 12 from Robert Hubbs and 10 from Kevin Punter.
“We know from a long rivalry that they have a culture there,” Tennessee senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua said. “Fans going to bring it, players going to bring it. I know it’s a new coach, I know it’s new players, but LSU is LSU.”
