BATON ROUGE, La. — Tennessee guard Bobby Maze had been heckled by LSU fans with chants of “Air Ball” all night long after missing his first shot in the game.
But with 16.6 seconds left and the game on the line, Maze hit both ends of a 1-and-1 free throw situation to help secure a victory after the Tigers had pulled to within one.
Tennessee (17-4, 5-2 SEC) scored a 59-54 victory over LSU (9-13, 0-8) Thursday night at Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The 14th-ranked Vols were seemingly in control with 8:05 left, holding a 51-37 lead over a Tigers team that had not drawn closer than eight in the second half.
But Bo Spencer banked in a long 3-pointer to trigger a 17-4 run that brought LSU to the brink of an upset before Maze’s clutch shots gave the Vols a 57-54 lead.
Senior All-SEC forward Tasmin Mitchell missed a 3-pointer on LSU’s next trip down, and Tennessee’s Scotty Hopson rebounded the ball and was fouled with 3.7 seconds left.
Hopson hit both free throws to put the finishing touches on the victory.
Wayne Chism led the Vols with 20 points and seven rebounds while J.P. Prince and Hopson scored eight apiece.
Spencer led the Tigers with 25 points.
LSU jumped out to a 5-0 lead through the first three minutes, hitting its first two shots of the game.
But point guard Melvin Goins came off the bench at the 17:10 mark and hit a 3-pointer, and Chism followed suit on the next trip down and UT took a 6-5 lead at the 16:23 mark.
Tennessee’s run reached 13-0 before the Tigers finally scored again at the 9:56 mark — Aaron Dotson’s bucket inside was LSU’s first first field goal in over eight minutes.
UT held the Tigers to 6-of-25 shooting in the first half, and LSU missed its first nine 3-point attempts before Spencer drilled a pair of treys right before half.
Chism closed the opening 20 minutes with a put-back, scoring eight of his points and grabbing five of his rebounds before intermission.
The Vols return to action at 6 p.m. Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena against South Carolina (13-8, 4-3). The Gamecocks have been idle since their 78-77 win over Georgia last Saturday.
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Comments » 139
stayingorange writes:
For what it's worth, this team will have plenty of experience playing tight games to the buzzer by the time they get to the dance. I guess as long as they win them in the end it's all good - but still a little ugly.
zigvol writes:
Man they sure make me sweat it out every game....
cdonsbach writes:
A win is a win.
Go Vols!
eduardo writes:
Well it doesnt take a rocket scientist to know who can guard and who cant!! We have some guys with no lateral quickness at the guard position. The only one who can get up and guard someone is Goins. I swear if JP Prince fouls one more guy shooting a 3...
RockyToptoNeyland writes:
I will be the first to say it, we are not good right now, the energy wasnt there tonight and we almost lost to the worst team in the sec. We have got to find our stroke, start making free throws, and stop missing easy shots. or we will get pounded on the road against vandy and kentucky.
volsn3 writes:
lucky...lucky...lucky....but i'll take it
jhayes0926#638474 writes:
not very inspirational game. I just don't understand the substitution pattern at all. Glad we weren't playing Ky. tonight.
cdonsbach writes:
Did Bruce just say, "If we don't shoot better, it's over." on his post game show?
topvol1 writes:
There's no such thing as a bad conference road win, but this one was pretty ugly. Defense was good, but the offense was Chism and lots of bricks from everyone else. No rhythm to the half court at all.
zigvol writes:
Look guys we are still 17-4 (5-2) not bad considering the circumstances of this season.. GO VOLS
tennrich1 writes:
I didnt get to catch the game until the start of 2nd half. Man, there was NO energy or passion played in that half. Our effort, it seemed to me, was lacking greatly. If LSU had not been one of the worst looking teams i have seen in a long time, we would have been in serious trouble. I know its a long season and all that but we HAVE to find a way for Hopson and the rest of team to play to their potential...Scotty, man I just dont know...he's simply not getting enough out of his nature talent...
jhayes0926#638474 writes:
The problem is that in 3 wks we will be 18-10 if play doesn't improve.
zigvol writes:
Give me a break! We are not going to lose 6 of our next 7. Have a little faith in our team.
Slystone writes:
Good points Plasty. So many outside shots and so little penetration to the basket. They should have won this game by 15+. LSU is not that good and the Vols just don't play smart at times. It seemed like they were toying with LSU instead of just putting them away. That can come back and bite you. Downey and company will be ready Saturday and Coach Horn will have them ready.
huntined#565710 writes:
I know a win is a win but we should have won that game by 25-30 points. They get up on the score and then go into a turn over just throw the ball away,jack up 3's This was not the 14th best team in the country tonight. They play like that against S.C. they get beat bad. Someone is going to have to guard Downey and from what I saw tonight we don't have a player that can stay with him. Maybe the home fans can pull them out.
Down_The_Field writes:
we must lead the league in fouls beyond the arc.
but......a wins a win and i'll take it. sorry tigers.
schymtz writes:
Why be suprised by a sub-par performance against an LSU team that did not play well. The telling thing is that UT did not bring out the best in LSU. It was good to see Don DeVoe in Knoxville against FLA and Dale Brown at the LSU game tonight. They both provided some great moments fot followers of SEC basketball.
rclarkfork#639958 writes:
We don't have anyone who can stop him and as the entire league already knows, there is no one player in the SEC who can stop him.
yabadabadoo1026 writes:
just a horrible shooting team--there can be no other team that shoots more airballs than Tenn does last year and this, 2 or 3 a game
nothing impressive about this team and while rankings mean nothing at this stage we are no whre close to being a legit top 20 team
VOLinGA writes:
LSU is terrible. Our offense is pathetic. We have athletes but no basketball players. Hopson is in a daze...not ready to lead this team. Woolridge...move inside cuz your shot sucks. Maze...where are you? Where is the Maze that took control of the game against Kansas. JP is JP...play D, get some rebounds and please put the ball in someone else's hands. Chism...thankful you are here or it would be ugly. It just seems we have NO offensive identity other than Chism. And you know what...there is no excuse for being so poor from the free throw line...our shooting fundamentals are terrible. One and done in NCAA Tourney...if we don't blow it down the stretch. I predict 2 losses to SC, 2 losses to KY, another loss to Vandy, and one more along the line somewhere...probably FL away. We may not make the tourney.
TNVOL4LIFE09 writes:
Prince's play is getting irritating. He really needs to work on his free throws and even more so he needs to stop fouling 3-pt shooters...good lord, how many times has he done that this season? He has done it multiple times in several games...not good...he has his moments where he shines tho but man oh man are his miscues frustrating....I love this team, but this is not a top 15 team. top 25 maybe but top 15 no. They have played lackluster ball the last few weeks and the playmakers(besides Chism) need to consistently have good games(looking at you Hopson and Maze)I just hope they can get it together before Kentucky comes up because if they don't...oh no! GO VOLS THO!
TSNVol writes:
This team, if you can call it that, IS NOT playing like one.
We still have guys taking bone head shots. I see some guys NOT throwing the ball to a wide-open teammate. Instead they move it to the other side of the court. Other times they're late on the pass.
That is coaching. Do we want a guy going through the lane shooting an off-balanced shot, when the shot clock is still at 15-25 seconds?
Also, when the game is on the line they should not have Prince on the court. Their opponent will foul him every time. It happened tonight.
Coach Pearl needs to do some fine-tuning. And another thing I believe Pearl is substituting to much. You get a certain 5 in the groove, two come out and the other team pulls closer. This happened tonight and the Vols where lucky, again.
I'm a BIG ORANGE fan, but sometime it takes an outsider to point out these little issues. I just want them to go far in the Big Dance. GBO!
UTVOLSRROCKN writes:
Yes, I will take the win too! We almost handed them the "W". There is no way we can continue to win if something doesn't change in a hurry! Chism was the only player in double figures with 20. Thats not going to cut it. I am a supporter of CBP but I agree with most of you....I don't understand his rotations or anything else! Downey will throw down 35 or more points easily. Everyone take a look back and you will see when our intensity and chemistry disappeared. For now, we just have to be thankful for the games we have won and keep our heart meds close by from this point on. This team is trying to kill us all for some reason!
VOLS.....TCB.........KOKO......GBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FeelVol writes:
My take for what it's worth is Coach Pearl is playing to many players,(trying to keep everybody happy)and the team chemistry suffers.It seems to me the quality of our play is better with eight maybe nine getting the minutes but then again what do I know.
TSNVol writes:
Talking about this stretch of games the next week. These guys are young and they can handle it. I really feel it will help them out. THEY NEED TO PLAY...you'll only get better.
And to echo my earlier post...players get better the more they play in a game. Look at Downey at SC the night against Kentucky. He hardly came out and pumped in 30. Could NOT miss.
Lets keep the five in the game with the best chemistry. I think Coach Pearl doesn't want to hurt some feelings...IM SORRY THIS IS THE S.E.C.!!! Alot of guys are on the bench across the conference that probably feel they should be playing. YOU EARN YOUR RIGHT TO PLAY!!!
richvol writes:
Poor shot selection and not valuing possessions...how many times do I have to say it? We are up by 10 with 7 minutes to play and we are jacking up threes with 25 seconds left on the shot clock? Does anyone on this team have any sense at all? Does anyone understand the importance of running some clock and working for good shots? It's one thing if you are hitting them but to keep taking threes after missing so many?
Does Prince have a brain at all...how many times can you be allowed to make bonehead fouls and why is he in the game at all with under three minutes to play when he can't shoot free throws and is likely to throw the ball away?
I swear he has photos of coach Pearl with small farm animals.
I'm going to say it...Pearl makes stupid decisions in his coaching. I know all about his record and what he has done for Tennessee basketball but good lord he makes UNSOUND decisions. If LSU wasn't such an incompetent team we would surely have lost that game and we were lucky to win. His substitution pattern is ridiculous and he holds no one accountable for taking bad shots. Coach Mears would have killed these guys for that kind of performance and decision making.
charles57#1378642 writes:
Tired? These guys? After all, they are just kids who shouldn't even know the definition of tired. Brilliant coaching is what sees them through. And, that can't last forever!
halloffamebowler writes:
I wouldn't make any bets if I were you.
rockyandbowinkle writes:
JP is obviously point shaving, any college player who shoots free-throws from where he does and fouls 3-pt shooters in every game down the stretch needs to be investigated... we need shooters or were doomed...
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
Particularly noteworthy was the missed LSU traveling call with under :20 to play. They were down 3, I believe, and could have tied the game.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
There's no way to spin this... I'm a fan through and through, but last night's game was just flat-out awful.. Vols allowed LSU to hang around the entire game, and it almost bit them in the end. 3-point game was abysmal, and once again the opposing team got double-bonus pretty early. Defense is what saved them. That and Chism got about 300 points off the inbound under LSU's rim.
lomas98 writes:
Yes, if we play against KY or Vandy like we did tonight we will get smoked, but the best thing is we didn't play KY or Vandy. They will come to play against those teams. They played okay last night for 35 minutes and then I don't know what happened. A 10-15 point win on the road would have been good no matter how good or bad the other team is. Do they shoot more 3's on the road than at home, it sure seems that way. They have played a couple bad games this year and have been fortunat to win when they play bad. That is okay. They have also played well at times. Excellent defensive gameplan against Mitchell and they are still playing great defense. How many times in the past will a Pearl team win games in the fifties and sixties? They have done it all year and is what we are this year.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
Can't forget, they get SC this weekend... yeah, game's in Knoxville, but it's hardly a team I'd look past.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
Actually, he did score 300, but LSU appealed, and most of them were erased.
lomas98 writes:
Agree about substitution pattern. 12 minutes a piece for Hall and Tatum. 19 minutes for Maze, 17 for Mcbee, and 10 for Pearl. I thought Goins was playing better than Maze tonight, especially defensively. Some of the subs at the times he did them were head scratching. I think when Pearl has more than 8 players to play with and sub, he struggles with that. I think that is why were playing a little bit better when the suspensions came because he was forced to a smaller rotation.
lomas98 writes:
We had a perfect storm against Kansas with Woolridge and McBee playing so well. Has Woolridge done anything since? His misses are just so bad looking. He also went for a pump fake from a guy 35 ft from the basket. Can you imagine being a Kansas fan and watching this TN team play now. If we played them 10 times, they would win 9.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
Pistol Pete, Shaq, and Chris Jackson (or whatever his name is now) on the same team... scoreboard would overload.... Or, just put Chuck Norris out on the floor, either way...
VOLFROMNC writes:
I just have to say that Steven Pearl has been playing great defense. He's not the biggest and certainly not on the same talent level as his competition, but he plays harder than anybody on the team. Great defensive player. Just doesn't need to shoot ever, including lay ups.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
Unfortunately, only 1 day to work the kinks out before SC. Is it me, or has their schedule gotten weird this year?
lomas98 writes:
Not looking past SC at all. Other posts were just saying no way to beat KY playing like they did tonight.
cloudodust writes:
Bingo...and with a little over a month before the SEC Tourney, can they do us a favor and ease up on the dang nailbiters..? Tough stretch ahead. GBO
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
I agree... he smothered his guy on D when they were in man-to-man.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
haven't heard from witchy much lately... I'm getting worried.
usnavyvolfaninva_still_getting_paid writes:
My opinion is that we're in the toughest division in NCAA this year... I think the Wests leading team is like 4-3 or something. Top 3 in the East: KY (6-1), Vandy (6-1), UT (5-2); UGA only has one win, but they've played their games really tough, and could easily have 3 or 4 league wins.
richvol writes:
I'm in complete agreement with you Hall...unless there is DRASTIC improvement immediately we are going to start losing.
The best teams play 6,7,or 8 players and develop a flow and chemistry to their game. They can trust one another to be in the right spot on defense and the offense gets better as the season wears on. If you are not pressing the other team there is absolutely NO REASON to play 9 or 10 unless you are trying to please everyone on the team. Pearl is letting the inmates run the asylum and is not holding anybody responsible for poor play and decision making. Hell,the players don't have to worry because they will be right back in the game in two minutes no matter how many stupid mistakes or shots they take. This is a severe problem with Pearl's coaching philosphy and we will not achieve the results we have waited for for so long if he continues down this path of nonaccountability.
hogan writes:
I have never seen a team with so much supposed talent play so stupid, and soft. I would really like to have JP's IQ tested, he has to have the all time record for fouling a 3-point shooter. How can Steve Pearl get as many mins as Kenny Hall.
fundamentals83 writes:
Are these guys hitting the swimming pool before the game? Are they playing a rousing game of nerf hoop before the game? Are the practicing with a women's ball? Are they practicing on a 9 or 11 foot rim? There's something going on here because there is no rationl reason for any SEC calibre team to shoot as miserably at Tennessee does game in and game out. If we would just hit a reasonable % of our open shots, we'd blow people out.
fundamentals83 writes:
Sooo, you think we played well last night?
fundamentals83 writes:
So poor play that results in a win is okay with you? Witch Doctor settling for second best.
Homermoosevols writes:
Watched the game laast night. A couple of thoughts. We do not have that killer instinct. Up 14 at one point and can't put the nail in the coffin. Also, we need to make more passes. No more one and done unless you are freaking wiiiiidddddeeeeee open. I don't know how many times last night I saw our own guys running into each other. Turnover were up there this game. Stupid turnovers. This has become very obvious to me the last two or three games. We are a very slow starting team. Also, we do such a piss poor job of guarding the 3 ball. If you think Spencer tore us up last night, wait till Downey gets a hold of our arse. GO VOLS. Tighten things up. Make the passes, rebound (both sides), shoot less contested shots. MOST IMPORTANTLY, play hard. I love how we go on a 5 to 7 pt run then collapse. Pearl's son was the only one I could remember that busted his bump after loose balls last night. Example, the time he jumped into the cheerleaders after a loose ball. Geez, I know you guys are tired but you gotta hustle.
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