KNOXVILLE – Tennessee and LSU entered Saturday’s game at Thompson-Boling Arena tied in the Southeastern Conference standings.
For one half of basketball, the gap between the two couldn’t have been larger.
The Tigers built a 27-point halftime lead with a first-half blitz and quelled repeated attempts by the Volunteers to get back in the game in the second half of a 73-55 road win.
The 18-point loss tied the most lopsided of the season for Tennessee (14-10, 6-6 SEC), which lost 56-38 at home to Alabama in January.
Jordan Mickey starred for LSU (18-7, 7-5) with 20 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks in backing up Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall’s assessment that he’s a future NBA player.
What Tyndall and the Vols weren’t expecting, though, was the exhibition the Tigers put on from 3-point range in the first half.
LSU, 10th in the SEC in 3-point shooting percentage in league play entering the game, hit seven triples in the first half on just 10 attempts. Keith Hornsby hit four of five in the early going to get the Tigers off to quick start in the wire-to-wire win. LSU reverted to form in the second half, shooting 2-of-9.
Tennessee got the crowd back into the game with a 13-0 spurt early in the second half, but every time the Vols got the deficit down to 15 points, the Tigers answered with quick spurts.
Armani Moore led the Vols with 16 points and eight rebounds, and leading scorer Josh Richardson added 15 points, though he needed 13 shots to get there.
Hornsby scored 16 points and Tim Quarterman added 15 for LSU, which got just nine points and five rebounds in 23 foul-plagued minutes from Jarell Martin, one of the SEC’s top scorers and rebounders along with Mickey.
Tennessee hosts No. 1 and unbeaten Kentucky on Tuesday night.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.