ATLANTA -- Thursday night's SEC tournament loss didn't look any better to Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl on Friday.

"It's clear that offensively we need to improve our continuity,'' Pearl said. "Everyone needs to be aggressive and play to their strengths. We're standing around watching Chris (Lofton) too much.''

The star guard led the No. 22 Vols (22-10) with 21 points in the 76-67 overtime loss to LSU in the first round late Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.

UT waits for Sunday night's NCAA tournament selection show to learn when, where and against whom its next postseason will begin.

If the Vols can't get a better team effort, it could be a short run.

The 6-foot-2 Lofton was the only UT starter to hit half his shots Thursday, making 8 of 16 despite being guarded by the Tigers' 6-5 Garrett Temple.

The Vols' poor team shooting percentage -- 24 of 70, 34.2 percent -- prevented them from setting up their press and forcing tempo.

That played into the hands of the longer, taller Tigers, who have proved to be adept at playing in the half court throughout the season.

Even when the Vols were forcing LSU into 23 turnovers, transition points weren't a given for the orange and white.

"LSU's length and shot blocking prevented us from scoring as much in transition,'' said Pearl, whose team had eight shot attempts blocked.

The Tigers' sticky defense led to UT having long spans without a field goal.

In the first half, the Vols went 8:31 without a field goal, missing 10 shots during that span.

From the end of the first half into the second half, UT went 6:45 without a field goal, missing eight consecutive shots.

The Vols scored first in overtime with 4:15 left, but didn't score a bucket the rest of the game, missing their final eight shots.

"We needed to be more patient and work for better shots,'' Pearl said. "We relied too much on our 3-point shooting.''

Not good when you consider UT connected on just 7 of 31 attempts (22.6 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc.

Pearl said those percentages won't cut it, particularly when opponents are laying off certain UT players in order to double cover Lofton and/or JaJuan Smith.

"Ryan Childress (3 of 4 shooting treys) made them pay,'' Pearl said. "Jordan Howell (0 of 2 beyond the arc) did not.''

Neither did Wayne Chism (0 for 5 on threes) or Dane Bradshaw (1 of 5 from the floor).

Howell started in place of freshman Ramar Smith, who struggled himself, making 2 of 10 shot attempts after missing curfew Wednesday night.

"A lot of times coaches look the other way, but I won't do that,'' Pearl said. "Ramar broke a rule. The punishment was business, it's not personal, and now we move on. I don't think that cost us the game.''

More pivotal was UT's inability to slow down LSU's Glen "Big Baby'' Davis, a 6-9, 289-pounder who scored 25 points and pulled down 15 rebounds.

"His size and strength took its toll, and he wore our young guys out,'' Pearl said. "That was as dominating of a performance as we've seen in our two years here. Glen Davis was the difference in the game.

"LSU was a Final Four team (last year) and they have a lot of talent. They underachieved this year, and we played them tough. We just have to move on to the next one.''