Takeaways: No. 18 Tennessee Scraps but Falls in Loss at No. 21 LSU

Following an overtime slugfest against a depleted Ole Miss team, Tennessee’s Olivier Nkamhoua reiterated that the Vols needed to “attack” more against LSU.

Tennessee (10-4) did just that with a 9-0 run to start, and they trimmed the Tigers’ lead to single digits multiple times in the second half.

Between those sequences, though, LSU’s dominance was too much to overcome as the Tigers (14-1) won 79-67.

Here are our takeaways from the Vols’ fourth-straight loss in Baton Rouge:

Turnovers lead to costly mistakes

Several times, the Tigers capitalized on lazy Tennessee passes to notch easy buckets.

The Vols appeared lost for part of the night, and Kennedy Chandler — whose 19 points kept Tennessee involved late — gave up a rare, crucial turnover that turned into a basket for LSU’s Brandon Murray.

Murray’s layup turned a five-point LSU lead — which had been reached via a clutch three from Santiago Vescovi — into a seven-point game, and Tari Eason provided an exclamation point with a runaway slam that sent the Pete Maravich Assembly Center into hysterics.

UT committed 15 turnovers in all, eight in the second half, and Barnes attributed them to a lack of alertness and toughness.

The Vols’ only offensive bright spots were from Chandler, Vescovi, Uros Plavsic (12 points on 5-of-8 shooting) and Olivier Nkamhoua (9 points, 7 rebounds).

Fulkerson’s struggles continue

Since his return from a COVID-19-induced absence, John Fulkerson has appeared out of sync.

That remained the case on Saturday, as the aforementioned turnover was one example of a three-point, five-rebound effort from Tennessee’s super-senior.

Against Ole Miss, Fulkerson scored just five points in 18 minutes of action.

Barnes said Saturday that Fulkerson told coaches that he felt “out of it” against the Rebels.

“He’s got to know how to take care of his body,” Barnes said.

“We need John to help us. If not, he needs to step aside.”

Despite Barnes’ assertions, Uros Plavsic gave a different outlook on the Vols’ super-senior.

“There’s nobody that can replace John Fulkerson,” he said after the LSU loss. “He’s a huge piece of this program, this team. Him having one or two games that people don’t like… he’s still having to come back (from COVID-19).

“He’s our brother, and we’ve got his back. He’s going to be fine.”

Plavsic improving, still little in-paint presence

Speaking of Plavsic, we’ve seen some improvement from him in Fulkerson’s absence.

The Serbia native flashed that again Saturday, as he kept Tennessee involved with a couple dunks and the aforementioned points.

“I thought Uros played as hard as he could play today,” Barnes said.

Still, Plavsic seems to struggle at times in finding ferocity down low.

On one second-half attempt, he went up for a basket — only to be rejected on a nasty block by Alex Fudge.

Nkamhoua found a similar result on the defensive end, as Eason (24 points, 12 rebounds) crammed a slam over Nkamhoua late in the second half.

Tennessee also struggled at the free-throw line, making just 23 of 37.

Vols don’t quit

Plavsic getting swatted was just one example of Tennessee’s offensive struggles.

The Vols went just 19-of-49 from the floor, with from 6-of-24 from 3-point range.

Moreover, those aforementioned highlights could have put Rick Barnes’ team away long before the final buzzer.

And yet, the Vols used stellar defense to mount something of a late comeback.

They forced 10 second-half turnovers and whittled a 20-point Tiger lead to single digits multiple times in the final five-and-a-half minutes.

Still, the inability to finish is what will stick for this loss.

Up next

The Vols will look to remedy that going forward, as they’ll host South Carolina on Tuesday before traveling to No. 16 Kentucky on Saturday.