LSU Thumped Again

From the LSU athletic department and the AP.

Scotty Hopson scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half as Tennessee routed LSU 75-53 on Wednesday night.

The Volunteers (13-7, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) never trailed against the Tigers. They used an 11-2 run to pull away early, and back-to-back 3s by Cameron Tatum from the same spot on the wing gave them a 22-10 lead with 10:42 in the first half.

A 3-pointer by Matt Derenbecker and a pair of free throws from Malcolm White helped LSU cut Tennessee's margin to 31-24 with 3:35 in the first half, but it was as close as the Tigers (10-10, 2-3) would get.

Tatum added 13 points and Melvin Goins added 11. Tobias Harris scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Volunteers, who scored 18 points off 12 LSU turnovers and scored 34 points in the paint.

http://www.lsusports.net/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205084423&DB_OEM_ID=5200

Trent Johnson commented earlier in the week that his team was not competing in their prior two blowout losses. Wednesday night in Knoxville, it would be hard to define what "competing" means in regards to the LSU basketball team. At the same time, the last three opponents are simply better than the Tigers. Trent Johnson has no denials about that fact, he admitted as much after tonight's game.

"There have been three teams - the last two losses to Kentucky and Ole Miss, or tonight against Tennessee - they are better than we are," said Johnson.

LSU now travels to Tuscaloosa for a Saturday night matchup with Alabama. I expect Johnson to use the same postgame quote, but use the number four instead of three, and add Alabama to the list of teams better than LSU.