By Kenneth Cross
Tennessee guard Tyreke Key hit a three to give the Vols a 48-30 win over Louisiana with 7:29 to play as the Vols expanded on their 30-19 halftime margin.
However, the Volunteers had trouble putting the Rajin’ Cajuns away as Kobe Julien hit three triples in a 13-0 run to place the ULL in position to pull off the second upset in Orlando on Thursday.
The Vols never scored again from the field after Jamai Mashack made a layup and Tennessee hit six of eight free throws down the stretch to hold off Louisiana, 58-55.
“They don’t shoot a lot of threes, but we did have some breakdowns defensively,” said Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes. “We were going under a couple of times too much of some screens.”
Key led the Vols with 12 points while Mashack scored 11. Tennessee struggled offensively as The Volunteers found only 12 points on 21 free throw attempts while Louisiana scored 21 points off 18 Vols’ turnovers.
“Jahmai has been a big part certainly ever since before Zakai (Zeigler) went down,” said Barnes. “He found his niche and he’s a guy that we know can guard people.”
Zeigler was loss for the season two weeks ago with a torn ACL.
“Definitely learning to play on the ball more,” said Vols leading scorer Santiago Vescovi. “We are definitely missing a big part of our offense with Zakai not being in there, but I think the other guys are doing a great job stepping up.”
Tennessee faces Duke, a 74-51 win over Oral Roberts on Thursday evening. The Blue Devils took a 15-0 lead over the first eight minutes of the game and were never threatened.
The loss ended the Golden Eagles’ winning streak at 19 games as they went 18-0 in the Summit League.
Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach led all scorers with 23 points as he was 9-of-17 from the floor.
“Jeremy has been on a tear,” said Duke head coach Jon Scheyer. “For me, it’s more just his mindset. I think the scoring, the playmaking comes with it. He’s never rattled and he is playing on both sides of the ball.”