LSU faces tough task against Tennessee

LSU’s Ben Simmons had 21 points and nine rebounds to lead LSU.

ESPN reported during the game that they caught up with Jones, who said Simmons’ ousting from the starting lineup was due to an academic-related issue – ironic, given his status as a clear one-and-done lottery pick who is mostly wasting his time in class over the next month.

While the punishment was hardly severe, it should serve as a wake-up call for Simmons as the Tigers try to scratch their way into the NCAA tournament.

The last thing their resume needed was another bad loss to a sub-top-100 team. Freshman guard Antonio Blakeney had 20 points and seven rebounds. It’s also the first time LSU has lost back-to-back SEC games. The Tigers would get waxed on the road against the Volunteers and it was a bad day overall for the team.

“It is an internal matter and we will address it after the game”, Jones said.

But for whatever reason – Simmons’ temporary benching, possible overconfidence with Tennessee’s Punter sidelined – LSU just slogged its way through 40 minutes of nothing. Robert Hubbs III had 19 points and seven rebounds.

The Volunteers trailed by as many as four points in the early going, but pulled away to a 31-25 lead at halftime and started the second frame on a 16-4 run.

Simmons was not in the starting line-up for LSU. They were 5-of-18 (27.8 percent) against Texas A&M, 5-of-20 (25.0 percent) against Alabama and 5-of-15 (33.3 percent) vs. Tennessee.

It showed on the court and on the stat sheet. Tennessee also won the battle of points in the paint, 42-36.

When that happens, it’s nothing but lack of want-to. There are some academic things he needs to take care of.

“We wanted to keep them off the free throw line which we did a good job of that”.

Immediately after the game, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, usually the most accurate bracketologist annually predicting the NCAA tournament, completely erased LSU from the tournament bracket. But he dropped them to a No. 11 seed the next morning with one of the last four byes into the tournament.

G-O-N-E. Or as former Tennessee football coach Johnny Majors always said, “Adios kazoots”.

As for the Tigers, Jones said his team has to look in the mirror before Tuesday’s game at Arkansas.

“We’ve just got to do some soul searching and make sure that we dig down deep and see if (you’re) part of the problem or you’re part of the solution”, Jones said.

After three losses in the last four games, that answer is obvious at the moment.