KNOXVILLE - At 4:47 Wednesday afternoon, the LSU-Tennessee men's basketball game a little less than two hours away, Will Wade exited a bus just outside Thompson-Boling Arena wearing a navy blue suit, starched white shirt and a purple plaid necktie as he walked swiftly to the visitors' locker room.
"You're playing against the best," said the Tigers' first-year coach - the same man whose first head coaching job was at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga five seasons ago - when asked what was the most exciting thing about his LSU gig. "And you get to put your fingerprint on the program."
The final score of Tennessee 84, LSU 61 would strongly indicate Wade had indeed faced one of the Southeastern Conference's best teams at the halfway point of the league schedule, but that the Tigers were under the No. 18 Volunteers' thumb from start to finish.
Tennessee is now 6-3 within the conference and 16-5 overall. LSU is 12-9, 3-6.
"What was it, 44-8 in bench points?" he asked rhetorically as he scanned the postgame stat sheet. "They hammered us pretty good there. They hammered us pretty good everywhere."
And the Vols certainly did, just as they went on the road last weekend to hammer Iowa State by an identical 23 points. For anyone not impressed with that beatdown in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, the Cyclones knocked off No. 15 West Virginia 93-77 on Wednesday, which was 48 more points than Iowa State scored against the Vols.
Tennessee guard James Daniel III (3) shoots over LSU guard Randy Onwuasor during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Crystal LoGiudice)"Tennessee is a great team," Wade said. "A balanced team, very physical, and they play hard."
To watch Wade's work over two seasons at UTC and two more at Virginia Commonwealth University was to watch teams that mirrored the words he chose to describe the Vols. But these Tigers aren't those Mocs or Rams. Beyond that, Wade had four players out due to suspension against Tennessee, and LSU doesn't have the weapons to play without anyone.
"If we played more like we practiced, we'd be in business," he said with a small smile.
Thankfully, first seasons rarely hint of second and third seasons for coaches as sharp as Wade. The Bayou Bengals will no doubt improve over time, though it might be a while before they become as perfect in their coach's eyes as his 9-month-old daughter, Caroline Elizabeth.
"She's usually up in the morning before I go to the office," said Wade. "I comb her hair. She gets a big kick out of that, and it gets me in a good mood to start my day."
Wife Lauren and Caroline started their days in Nashville a couple of weeks ago while visiting family when LSU played at Vanderbilt, which was Wade's rooting interest during his childhood in the Music City.
"That was pretty surreal," said Will's mother, Sissy - the former head of Franklin Road Academy - a few minutes after the Tennessee-LSU game ended as she recalled Vandy's 77-71 win over her son's team. "Will was a ball boy in that gym. But I've come to really like the color purple."
Wade looks good in a touch of purple, his heady, steady climb up the coaching ladder now paying him $2.5 million annually, which should help Caroline go anywhere she wants to college, even one on the moon.
But as his two seasons in Chattanooga begin to fade, Wade still misses things about the Scenic City.
"Oh, I'll always love Chattanooga," he said. "I still miss Shuford's Barbecue. That's a really special place to live."
But Baton Rouge isn't bad, either. Especially if LSU starts to put up the numbers his UTC and VCU teams did, with his average record those four seasons 22-11 overall and 14-4 in conference play.
"We're going to be fine," he said. "We just need a few more players."
Until then, he'll keep enjoying mornings with Caroline, a heaping serving of jambalaya any time he drops by a Baton Rouge eatery and matching wits with the rest of the SEC's coaches.
"As good as this league is," Wade noted before Wednesday's game, "what people are missing is that it's going to be better next year. What people are missing is that Tennessee's going to have almost everyone back. Auburn, which is leading the league, is going to have everyone back. Almost everyone in this league should be better next year, and it's a great league now."
Tennessee was certainly too good a team for the Tigers to tangle with inside the Boling Alley. The Vols dominated the Tigers with advantages on the boards (39-29), 3-pointers (12-3), field goals (33-22) and assists (24-9).
And the Vols' scary schedule would appear to demand such excellence remains, if not broadens, going forward with visits to Kentucky (Tuesday) and Alabama (Feb. 10), as well as road games at Georgia, Ole Miss and Mississippi State sandwiched around a home game against Florida.
As for LSU, Sissy Wade, a longtime college basketball fan, didn't sound as interested in the Tigers or the endless shrimp dishes she longs to sample throughout Baton Rouge as she did to keep practicing her grandmother skills.
Asked what she most enjoys about Will's new home, she smiled wide and replied, "Caroline."
Like mother, like son.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @TFPWeeds.