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Tennessee basketball: Three takeaways from Vols loss to LSU in SEC opener

By Caleb Calhoun

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after losing to the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MARCH 28: Jordan Bowden #23 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after losing to the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at the KFC YUM! Center on March 28, 2019 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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In their first SEC game of the season, the men’s Tennessee basketball program fell to the LSU Tigers. Here are three takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.

For the second straight time and fourth time in five games, Tennessee basketball came out on the losing end of a matchup. The Vols fell to the LSU Tigers in their SEC opener, their second straight game without Lamonte Turner and their first game of 2020.

UT got off to en early lead thanks to red-hot three-point shooting, going ahead 20-11 at one point and 32-26. But they fell behind at halftime, and LSU slowly pulled away in the second half to win in what seemed like convincing fashion, 78-64.

With the loss, the Vols fall to 8-5 on the year and 0-1 in the SEC, and LSU improves to 9-4 and 1-0 in the SEC. Up next for Rocky Top is a Tuesday night matchup at the Missouri Tigers. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s loss.

1. Santiago Vescovi can play but has lots of work to do.

Because of Turner’s season-ending shoulder surgery, Rick Barnes decided to go ahead and throw midseason enrollee Santiago Vescovi out there. His results were, well, mixed. The highlight was him scoring 18 points because he hit six-of-nine three-pointers. If a player ever does that in his first game, it’s usually a splash.

However, Vescovi had lots of issues as well. The game was clearly a bit too quick for him, as he often got pick-pocketed and tried to force passes not anticipating they would be picked off. This is why he had only four assists and nine turnovers. He also struggled defensively. Vescovi has great vision and can shoot, but he’s got to work on everything else.

2. Scoring was horrible outside of three-point shooting.

It’s crazy how this game worked out. Largely thanks to Vescovi but also to Yves Pons and Josiah-Jordan James, Tennessee basketball built its early lead thanks to red-hot three-point shooting. Pons and James each hit three en route to 18 and 15 points respectively, and the team as a whole went 13-of-26 from the three-point line.

But they were horrible everywhere else. UT shot 11-of-34 from two and only shot five free throws, hitting just three of them. So they could only score when shooting from beyond the arc, which is not typical of a Barnes-led team. It also didn’t help that Jordan Bowden had another off-night, going one-for-12 from the field and one-for-six from three for only three points.

3. Defense was a major issue.

To be fair, we already mentioned that this is something Vescovi needs to work on. He struggled severely to guard Javonte Smart, who had 21 points. But don’t forget that he had 29 points against the Vols last year with Turner, Bowden and Jordan Bone all trying to guard him at times. So he’s just a really good player, and a newcomer like Vescovi was bound to struggle.

However, the interior defense was no better. Trendon Watford scored 15 points, hitting five-of-six free throws and five field goals inside. Pons and John Fulkerson should be better down there. And the Vols only forced eight turnovers. These things have to be better, and they made LSU’s offense only get more impressive after shooting 10-of-21 from the outside.

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