Tennessee has a winning streak again, making it back-to-back SEC victories on an important night in the conference standings. The Volunteers took care of business against LSU on Wednesday night in Knoxville, winning 88-68 to improve to 17-5 overall and 7-2 in SEC play.

UT never trailed in the game, leading by as many as 26 points (53-27). Rick Barnes’ squad started strong, taking a 50-27 lead into the locker room at the half. LSU outscored Tennessee in the second half (41-38), but the best Tigers could do is cut it to a 75-66 with 3:37 to go. The Tigers did not make another field goal.

Star guard Dalton Knecht led the way again. Knecht was the game’s top scorer with 27 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field, going 2-of-5 from beyond the arc and 7-of-9 at the line. Knecht also led UT in rebounds with 7.

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Zakai Zeigler was 1 assist shy of a double-double, scoring 17 points with 9 assists. Jordan Gainey (18 points) and Jonas Aidoo (10 points) also reached double figures.

Tennessee shot 55% from the floor (31-of-56), including 46% from 3-point range (11-of-24). Unsurprisingly, LSU could not keep up with 41% field-goal shooting and 24% 3-point shooting. In addition to scoring with the 3-ball, Tennessee also dominated points in the paint 38-26.

UT also dominated the turnover battle. LSU committed 16 turnovers to Tennessee’s 7. The Vols scored 25 off turnovers, while the Tigers managed just 7 points off UT’s miscues.

Assists and steals also went to Tennessee by margins of 23-7 and 13-5. The Vols blocked 6 shots, while the Tigers did not register a block in the game.

While the Vols were certainly focused on LSU during the game, they presumably did some scoreboard-watching back in the locker room. Alabama, which had been the only SEC team with  1 conference loss, picked up its second conference defeat at Auburn. Tennessee is now tied in the loss column with Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina, but one game behind in the win column, having not played as many conference games.