No. 19 Vols basketball handles business against LSU

Tennessee basketball had its first real injury scare of the season less than two minutes into Wednesday night’s game against LSU when standout forward Grant Williams crumpled under the basket.

But the Vols again showed the depth coach Rick Barnes has lauded, extending their lead without Williams before he returned and took care of business at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee methodically handled an undermanned LSU team in an 84-61 victory to match its win total from last season with its second-straight blowout victory.

“We came off a win against Iowa State and our coaches tried to put it on us the fact that’s not going to be every game,” junior center Kyle Alexander said. “I don’t think (coach Barnes) thought that we were 100 percent that game either.

“This was a game where we had to come out and handle business.”

The guard duo of James Daniel III and Jordan Bone fueled the Tennessee (16-5, 6-3 SEC) offense. Daniel picked up where he left off after scoring 16 points at Iowa State on Saturday, scoring 17 to match his season high. Bone had his highest scoring output since the first week of SEC play, scoring 12 and recording a season-high eight assists and no turnovers.

Williams finished with 16 points and six rebounds as Tennessee won its fourth game in a row and its seventh in its past eight.

“I think it wasn’t as simple a game as it looked,” Williams said. “I think we just competed on the defensive end. … It’s nice that we won pretty big, but there’s always things you can learn from it.”

No. 19 Tennessee opened a huge second-half lead behind Daniel, who made five 3-pointers — four in the second half — as the Vols won back-to-back games by more than 20 points for the first time since the November.

LSU (12-9, 3-6) trimmed the Tennessee lead to six midway through the second half, while the Vols turned over the ball six times in less than four minutes.

“You can’t start a half where every other possession down the floor is a turnover,” Barnes said. “You can’t do that. You can’t let teams back in the game. Again, I’m not taking anything away from (LSU) because they capitalized on it. We helped them get back in the game.”

Tennessee punched back with a 7-2 run and didn’t allow the Tigers to gain any additional ground. Freshman forward Derrick Walker got the run started with a drive and left-handed finish before Daniel hit a 3-pointer and Walker followed with a large one-handed dunk to force an LSU timeout.

Daniel took over from there, making three straight 3-pointers to extend Tennessee’s lead to 18.

“For us, it’s big because it shows we are starting to learn how to stretch out our leads,” Alexander said. “But it’s all about consistency. We just have to show next game we can do the same thing.”

Tennessee went on a 10-0 run soon after Williams went to the bench to take a double-digit lead.

Daniel came out clicking with a floater in the lane and a 3-pointer. Jalen Johnson followed suit with his first career 3-pointer, forcing an LSU timeout before Lamonte Turner scored in transition to push the Vols ahead 19-8, while UT held LSU scoreless for 5:35.

“They’ve got a lot of different pieces and a lot of different ways they can beat you,” LSU coach Will Wade said.

Tennessee’s bench outscored LSU by a 44-8 margin, while the Vols limited LSU to 39.3 percent shooting from the field and 15.8 percent from 3-point range.

“I feel as though when we lock in, we can go out there and compete with anybody in the country, as we have proven,” Daniel said. “It’s just each day, building and building and getting better. Coach keeps telling us that we’ve got to get better. It’s February. We’ve got to keep improving.”

Injury scare

Williams went down under the Tennessee basket after reaching for an attempted offensive rebound early in the game.

He eventually got up and walked slowly to the Vols bench under his own power, but left the game with 18:09 to play. Williams left the bench for a stretch as well, before returning and checking back into the game with 7:25 to play in the first half.

“Just dealing with a couple issues that I’ve been dealing with the whole year,” he said. “I can play through it, kept playing.”

Barnes said Williams has been battling a hip and back issue through the season.

Williams promptly scored two straight baskets, including a sharp turnaround jumper, and any fears were put to rest. He scored 10 first-half points in nine minutes, praising athletic trainer Chad Newman, team physician Dr. Chris Klenck and strength coach Garrett Medenwald for getting him back in the game.

“They did a great job,” Williams said. “They opened me up and helped me get back on the floor.”

Up next

Tennessee hosts Ole Miss at 6 p.m. ET Saturday (SEC Network) at Thompson-Boling Arena.