Tennessee’s smallest lineup of the season produced positive results Saturday afternoon at LSU, as the No. 9 Volunteers cruised to a 77-56 victory.
Senior guard Josiah-Jordan James scored a season-high 22 points and sophomore guard Zakai Zeigler added 12 points and 10 assists in the rare Baton Rouge stroll. The Vols had lost four straight meetings at LSU, last winning in 2015 during Donnie Tyndall’s one season at the helm.
Current Vols coach Rick Barnes went with James, Zeigler, Santiago Vescovi, Julian Phillips and Olivier Nkamhoua as his starting five for the first time.
“I like that lineup a lot, because a lot of teams struggle to guard us,” Zeigler said on a Zoom call after the Vols improved to 16-3 overall and 6-1 in Southeastern Conference play. “It’s hard for teams to find matches with us, because everybody out there for us are really good defenders, and there is no let up on that defensive end. It really boosts us on the offensive end.
“We just give teams a lot more that they can handle when we go with that small-ball lineup.”