LSU’s senior night went a little bit better than expected on Wednesday night as LSU (10-19. 2-15 SEC) was finally able to snap their program record 15 straight SEC losses with a surprise win over Tennessee (15-14, 7-9 SEC) by the score of 87-77.
Tennessee would start out strong getting out to a four point lead before the first media timeout. The Tigers were able to keep the game in front of them though keeping the Vols lead down to around four points throughout the rest of the first half.
The Tigers would start the second half strong getting out to a seven point lead with 15:57 left in regulation. As the second half progressed it looked more and more likely that LSU would finally snap this historic losing streak. One of the big factors was that Tennessee at one point could not buy a bucket, going 1-of-13 from the field.
Tennessee would get as close as eight points with 3:02 left, but it was too little too late and for the first time in almost two months, LSU won a game of basketball.
The Tigers will wrap up the regular season in Starkville to take on Mississippi State (14-15, 5-12 SEC) with tipoff set for 7:15 pm.
By the Numbers:
24: Number of points put up Brandon Sampson. It tied his career high and ended up with four rebounds and two assists.
7: Number of points off of turnovers for Tennessee. LSU only had eight turnovers so the Volunteers weren’t able to do what so many other teams have in terms of capitalizing on the Tigers mistakes.
56: Number of days since LSU hoops has won a game in SEC play.
-Clint Domingue