The Lady Vols hoped to carry the momentum from Thursday's upset win over UConn into another upset win against LSU.
Tennessee fell short in its upset bid, losing 82-77 in Death Valley. The offense fell apart in the last five minutes, going scoreless for most of that time period, while LSU capitalized on offense.
LSU outscored Tennessee 14-4 over a four-minute period with under eight minutes to go in the game, which lifted the Tigers over the Vols.
If Tennessee was able to minimize that run or find a way to score another basket or two, the Lady Vols could have upset the Tigers on the road.
The loss can be seen as another moral victory in Kim Caldwell's first year, pushing the No. 6 team in the country to its limit on the road. Despite the moral victory, it goes down as a loss in the record books after another disappointing close loss against an SEC opponent.
That has been the story in all of Tennessee's losses this year. The Lady Vols have already tallied 17 wins on the year, but all five losses are by a combined 20 points.
While it's disappointing to see the Lady Vols continue to lose these close conference matchups, Tennessee is a very dangerous team as we near the end of the season.
Tennessee is currently projected to be a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which means it would host the first two rounds in Knoxville. If Tennessee can put everything together and find a way to close down the stretch, it can beat any team in the country in the NCAA Tournament.
The Lady Vols will have two unranked conference matchups on the schedule this next week. They host Auburn on Thursday and host a really good Ole Miss team on Sunday.