Tennessee
LSU women ride hot third quarter into win over Tennessee in last regular-season home game
Tennessee shifted over toward Mikaylah Williams. So the LSU women’s basketball team’s star junior peered across the lane and roped a pass over the defense and down to Flau’jae Johnson, who buried a 3-pointer from the corner.
That bucket was an important one. It didn’t just give the No. 6 Tigers (25-4, 11-4 SEC) a 12-point lead late in the third quarter. It also marked the point at which they took control of their 89-73 win over the Lady Vols on Thursday — a victory orchestrated by their three-star guards.
Williams tallied 20 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals. MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 18 points, grabbed six boards, blocked four shots and assisted three others. Johnson, on her senior night, shot only 3 of 10 from the field and 3 of 9 at the free-throw line but still finished with 10 points, becoming one of four LSU contributors to score in double figures.
The Tigers have now clinched a double bye in the SEC Tournament for the fifth year in a row.
“Today it was,” coach Kim Mulkey said, “don’t settle for anything outside the paint until they take charges or they stop you. You just go right to the paint, and you score, and I thought we did that.”
Tennessee runs a unique system. Second-year coach Kim Caldwell makes hockey-style line changes, engages a full-court press for the whole game and encourages the Lady Vols (16-11, 8-7) to let their 3-pointers fly. They’re certainly dangerous. But they did enter Thursday’s matchup with losses in seven of their past nine games.
LSU was in much better shape. It just needed to collect Tennessee’s misses and minimize its turnovers to get the win, which it did, for the most part, in the second half. The Tigers may have allowed the Lady Vols to shoot 11 of 29 from beyond the arc, but they also gave up only seven offensive rebounds and coughed up just four possessions across the third and fourth quarters.
Freshman forward ZaKiyah Johnson added 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, while Grace Knox — another freshman forward — chipped in 13 points and nine boards. Sophomore point guard Jada Richard added nine points.
Tennessee had three players in double figures. Its leading scorer was Jaida Civil, a freshman guard who finished with 17 points.
“We were moving the ball as a team,” Caldwell said. “ I think we were doing a really good job on the offensive glass. They obviously made the adjustment. That was harder for us coming out (of halftime), and they really picked up their effort at the rim, and we gave up a lot of second-chance points.”
The two teams traded hot shooting stretches in the first half. Tennessee struck first, using a trio of 3-pointers to string together a 9-0 run halfway through the first quarter. LSU then responded in the second by collecting misses and using them to build a 14-0 blitz, but it just couldn’t shake the turnover issues that the Lady Vols both forced and turned into points.
The Tigers led just 43-42 at halftime, but they began the fourth quarter with a much more commanding 70-59 advantage, in large part because they turned the ball over only once in the third. Williams — who became the 17th player in LSU history to eclipse 1,500 career points on Thursday — either scored or assisted seven of the 12 field goals LSU converted in that frame.
“I thought Mikaylah Williams really, really had a good game,” Mulkey said.
According to ESPN, Mulkey is now the first coach in SEC history to lead a team to at least 25 wins in each of the first five seasons of their tenure. Mulkey has eclipsed that number of victories in 23 of the 26 seasons of her head coaching career.
LSU also honored seniors Izzy Besselman and Amiya Joyner on Thursday. Besselman is a former walk-on guard who’s missed the last two seasons while battling a heart condition. She checked in to the game to a loud ovation in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, making her first appearance in a game since March 24, 2024.
Joyner is a 6-foot-2 forward who joined the Tigers ahead of this season as a transfer from East Carolina. She’s started each of the past four games, and on Thursday, she played eight minutes.
The Tigers will now finish in the top four of the SEC’s regular-season standings for the fifth consecutive year. They won’t start their conference tournament run until the quarterfinal round tips off next Friday in Greenville, South Carolina.
Before then, though, LSU will play one more regular-season game: a road matchup with Mississippi State that will tip off at 3 p.m. Sunday.
CHICAGO − Iowa State’s star forward Joshua Jefferson is questionable against Tennessee basketball according to the NCAA player availability report released at 6:32 p.m.
The No. 6 Vols (24-11) and No. 2 Cyclones (29-7) play in the Men’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 at the United Center on March 27 (10:10 p.m. ET, TBS).
Jefferson sprained his ankle in the opening minutes of Iowa State’s first-round game against Tennessee State. He sat for the remainder of the game and missed the Cyclones’ win over Kentucky on March 22. Iowa State didn’t need the All-Big 12 forward as it generated 20 Wildcat turnovers in its 19-point victory.
Senior Nate Heise started in place of the 6-foot-9 Jefferson. He had 12 points against Kentucky, but senior Tamin Lipsey stepped up with a season-high 26 points and 10 assists.
Jefferson averaged 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals and shot 47.1% from the field.
Wynton Jackson covers high school sports for Knox News. Email: wynton.jackson@knoxnews.com
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Tennessee
What channel is Vanderbilt baseball vs Tennessee on today? Time, TV schedule to watch game
Vanderbilt baseball is back home in SEC play against Tennessee, beginning on March 27 at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores (14-12, 2-4 SEC) were swept at Mississippi State last weekend to fall below .500 early in league play.
Tennessee (18-7, 3-3) lost the Friday opener to Missouri last weekend, then rebounded with two wins to take the series.
Here’s how you can watch Vanderbilt baseball vs Tennessee:
Vanderbilt baseball vs Tennessee on March 27 will be televised on SEC Network.
- Game 1 start time: 7 p.m on March 27, ESPNU
- Game 2 start time: 1 p.m. on March 28, SEC Network
- Game 3 start time: 11 a.m on March 29, ESPN2
- Feb. 13: vs. TCU in Arlington, Texas, L 5-4
- Feb. 14: vs. Texas Tech in Arlington, Texas, W 13-3 (8 innings)
- Feb. 15: vs. Oklahoma State in Arlington, Texas, L 11-1 (8 innings)
- Feb. 17: Eastern Michigan, W 13-2 (7 innings)
- Feb. 18: Eastern Michigan, W 16-2 (8 innings)
- Feb. 20: Marist, W 16-5 (8 innings)
- Feb. 21: Marist, W 12-1 (7 innings)
- Feb. 22: Marist, W 8-1
- Feb. 24: Evansville, W 15-3 (7 innings)
- Feb. 27: vs. UC Irvine in Las Vegas, L 9-4
- Feb. 28: vs. Arizona State in Las Vegas, L 5-1
- March 1: vs. Oregon in Las Vegas, L 6-4
- March 3: Central Arkansas, L 5-4
- March 4: Troy, W 4-1
- March 6: North Dakota State, W 14-2 (7 innings)
- March 7: North Dakota State, W 10-0 (8 innings)
- March 8: North Dakota State, L 5-2
- March 10: Indiana State, W 14-6
- March 13: LSU, W 13-12
- March 14: LSU, W 11-3
- March 15: LSU, L 16-9
- March 17: Indiana, L 5-1
- March 20: at Mississippi State, L 4-2
- March 21: at Mississippi State, L 7-2
- March 22: at Mississippi State, L 17-7 (7)
- March 24: Tennessee Tech, W 15-5 (8)
- March 27: Tennessee, 7 p.m on ESPNU
- March 28: Tennessee, 1 p.m on SEC Network
- March 29: Tennessee, 11 a.m on ESPN2
- March 31: Belmont
- April 2-4: at Texas A&M
- April 7: EKU
- April 9-11: Oklahoma
- April 14: Lipscomb
- April 17-19: Kentucky
- April 21: Xavier
- April 24-26: Texas
- April 28: MTSU
- April 30-May 2: at Alabama
- May 5: Louisville
- May 8-10: at Missouri
- May 14-16: South Carolina
CHICAGO – As Tennessee basketball’s newest Sweet 16 team was on the court at the United Center, prepping for Iowa State, the best pure shooter in the building sat on the side in a hoodie.
Chris Lofton, as always, was looking for his shot.
“I’m ready to shoot now, you know?” he said with a laugh. “When they start stretching, I’ll get a shot up or two for sure. I tell Mike (Keith) all the time, ‘If we go to the gym and there’s a basketball, I have to shoot it.’ That’s just a rule. I’ve got to shoot at least once.”
Though his last professional basketball game was in 2019, Lofton still gets on the court occasionally, and when he does, he can still shoot it.
Tennessee star freshman Nate Ament can confirm. He’s seen it.
“Really good,” Ament said of Lofton. “Even now.”
He’s a radio guy now, though.
Lofton is finishing a season back in Knoxville as part of the newly built Vol Network crew for men’s basketball games. He has been working with new play-by-play man Mike Keith, the former voice of the Tennessee Titans, among those tasked with replacing longtime Vols duo of Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp.
“Mike has been great,” Lofton said, “teaching me a lot. I’m learning so much. It’s been fun just to be back around Tennessee basketball as much as I’ve been this year. I’m VFL. I bleed orange. It doesn’t get any better than this.”
In a game of horse, I’d still take Lofton against anyone. Vols fans old enough to remember watching him play for Tennessee (2004-08), I’d imagine many of y’all would, too.
This guy is a myth, a Tennessee legend. Unforgettable because of magical moments during games as “the best bad-shot-maker I’ve ever coached,” said former Vols coach Bruce Pearl, and because of his inspirational personal story. The circumstances of Lofton’s final UT season, during which he played through a secret cancer diagnosis, comprised a recent ESPN documentary.
The old heads know. And I’ve got something to make those old heads feel a bit older:
Lofton is about to turn 40.
The last day of his 30s, in fact, was practice day at the United Center on the eve of 2026 Men’s NCAA Tournament regional games there. He’ll celebrate while working. Lofton’s 40th birthday will be March 27, same day that Tennessee faces Iowa State in the Sweet 16.
“I’m telling you,” Lofton said, “it goes by fast.”
The opportunity “came out of nowhere,” said Lofton. He’d been through the NBA’s coaching program a couple of years ago, and he was close to landing a scouting job with the Boston Celtics last year.
Lofton hadn’t envisioned a detour through media until he got the call in October – and he recoiled initially. “I’ll get back to you,” Lofton told them at the time, all the while thinking, “Talking on the radio? That’s not me.”
But Lofton thought more about it, figuring “Why not? What else do I have to do?” Since then, Lofton has thrown himself into the role.
“Just like he was as a basketball player,” Keith said, “he wants to be good at it.”
This season’s Vol Network hoops team included Keith, Lofton, former UT player Steve Hamer and John Wilkerson, the play-by-play man for Vols baseball.
Since baseball season started for Wilkerson, Lofton has consistently been a part of Tennessee’s broadcasts despite jumping in short-notice to a new career path with no previous experience.
“What Chris has done has been amazing,” Keith said. “Nothing short of amazing, considering his background in (radio) – which was non-existent – his sort of knowledge of how it works and his interest in it before he was contacted in October. …
“If you listen to him from a broadcast in November or December to now, it’s a totally different guy.”
Keith added that “it’s going to be off the charts” for Lofton in Year 2, given how much he has improved.
All Lofton has decided for his post-playing future is that wants to stay in basketball. He hasn’t ruled out a career in coaching or scouting.
But he does love what he’s doing now, he said.
“I open to whatever, honestly,” Lofton said. “I love what I do now. I would love to be more involved on the court, for sure, but it might just be here (on radio).”
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and hang out with him on Bluesky @gentryestes.bsky.social
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