By SCOTT FELTS
The Tennessee Volunteers continued the 2025-26 season on Saturday, with a Valentine’s Day tussle against the LSU Tigers at Food City Center.
The series in recent years has been one of not only streaks, but big wins. With the Vols’ 73-63 win on Saturday, the Vols (18-7, 8-4) have won the last five with three of those being by at least 14 and two by 20 or more points. Before that, LSU (14-11, 2-10) had won four in a row with three of those coming by 12 points or more.
Let’s look Beyond the Box Score at how the game played out.
Tigers in the Zone: The Vols should have scored more easily in the first half but managed just a 35-29 lead at the break. A constant defensive adjustment for LSU between an adaptive man-to-man and effective zone defense seemed to confuse the Vols and keep them struggling. They ended the half on a scoring drought of 3:10 and crossing into the early second half gave up an 11-1 run. There were six ties in the first eight minutes of the second half and a few LSU leads before the Vols finally stretched a lead and held off a late push from a gutty Tigers team.
Ament Absent?: Nate Ament has scored 16 or more points in each of UT‘s last ten games with 22 or more in six and 28 or more in three. He got to 22 on Saturday but it was a struggle. He finished 6 of 19 from the field and 10 for 11 from the line.
Perfect Okpara No More: Last season at LSU, Felix Okpara went 6 of 6 from the floor and 3 of 3 from the foul line to score 15 points, the fourth-highest total in his career. Okpara couldn’t replicate that effort. He scored three points Saturday and went 1-for-4 from the field, making his only shot with 3:29 remaining. It was another Tennessee big, however, that had a nice game.
Efficient Estrella: J.P. Estrella played only 10 minutes in the first half but made the most of it, making four of five field goals and leading the Vols at the half in scoring with nine points. Estrella finished the game with 16 points on 28 minutes on 7-for-9 shooting and 2 of 4 from the line. His nine rebounds tied for the team lead with Ament.
Too Big For Tigers: Tennessee’s depth and length were too much for the shorthanded Tigers. The Vols outrebounded the Tigers 45-24 and 14-8 on the offensive glass, outscoring LSU 22-4 on second chance points. The Tigers finished the game shooting 38% from the field.
GillespThree: Vols point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie came in making the most 3s in the SEC in league games and Saturday was no different. Gillespie was 4-for-8 from 3 for the game, finishing with 12 points in 35 minutes.
A Class All Their Own: Over the last nine seasons, Tennessee leads the SEC in total victories (218), overall winning percentage (.729) and postseason victories (23).
Quads Matter: Tennessee is a combined 14-0 in Quad 2, 3, and 4 games this season. Against Quad 1 opponents, Tennessee is 4-7 with wins against #4 Houston, #14 Louisville, at # 21 Alabama and at #35 Georgia.
Up Next: The Vols will host Oklahoma (13-12, 3-9) at 7 p.m., on Wednesday night before hitting the road for two in a row. Oklahoma is coming off of a big home win against Georgia on Saturday and a recent one-point upset win at Vanderbilt.
Tip Ins: LSU becomes the eighth school the Vols have defeated 70 or more times. … LSU point guard Dedan Thomas, Jr., had been leading the Tigers in scoring (5.3 ppg) and assists (6.5 apg) but it was announced early Saturday that he would have season-ending foot surgery. Max Mackinnon also was a late scratch with a knee injury that cost him some minutes in the Arkansas loss earlier in the week. … Only one game in the past 23 matchups in the Tennessee-LSU series, dating back to January 2009, has featured a final scoring margin within four points. … LSU coach Matt McMahon hails from Oak Ridge, just 26 miles west of the Food City Center. … Tennessee is 16-13 (13–12 SEC) all time on Valentine’s Day, including 9-5 (7–4 SEC) on its home court. … Rick Barnes became the ninth coach all time (third active) with 250 wins at two Division I schools (Texas and Tennessee).