BATON ROUGE — Still perfect.

Alexis Morris pumped in a career-high 31 points while Angel Reese kept her double-double streak alive with 18 points and 17 rebounds as No. 3 LSU (21-0, 9-0 SEC) outlasted Tennessee (16-8, 8-1 SEC) Monday night, 76-68, to remain undefeated in front of a record setting crowd of 15,157.

The Lady Vols entered the game unbeaten in the SEC at 8-0.

The crowd was the largest at the PMAC for any LSU sport since its seating was reconfigured ahead of the 2005-06 season.

Morris was simply incredible as she played 39 minutes as she added 6 rebounds and a season-high 6 steals to one of the best performances of her career. Morris went 11-23 from the field and shot an impressive 8-9 from the FT line.

Reese collected her 21st straight double-double to extend her LSU record. She only had 4 points and 4 rebounds in the first half, but a strong second half showing allowed her to finish with 18 points and 17 rebounds.

Her 21 consecutive double-double is also a SEC record.

And it was in no way easy for the LSU forward who struggled in the first half with only four points and four boards.

The Volunteers were led by Jordan Walker, who had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. She was followed by Rickea Jackson with 17 points, 8 boards, and 5 assists. The only other Lady Vol to break double figures was Jordan Hortson with 11. 

LSU will be back at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Thursday when they host Georgia at 7 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ and can be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates.

You can’t help but get excited for a Super Bowl Sunday Feb. 12 match-up as LSU will visit No. 1 South Carolina (22-0, 9-0) at 2 p.m. in a battle for the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament.

SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL UPDATE

LSU’s KJ Williams became the 123rd player in NCAA history to score 2,000 points and have 1,000 rebounds on Jan. 21 in a 19-point loss against Tennessee.

Williams, a fifth-year senior, recorded his 1,000th rebound of his career on Jan. 7 against Texas A&M, hit a three-pointer with 17:40 to play in the game, giving him his 11th point and an even 2,000 for his career. He finished with 16 points and now is at 2,005 career points.

“It’s a great credit to him for his work ethic and commitment,” said LSU Coach Matt McMahon. “He is an elite teammate who just wants to help his team get better. He wants to help his team find ways to win. I know he’s had the bonus year here (LSU) but not many players in their college career go over 2,000 points. It’s an even smaller fraternity of players who go over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Obviously very proud of him and the work he has put in over these four and a half seasons.”

SEC Player of the Week – Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler, a 5-foot-9, 171-pound sophomore from Long Island, N.Y., averaged 16.5 points, 8.5 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.5 rebounds in wins over Georgia and No. 10 Texas. He recorded his third-career double-double with 22 points and a career-high-tying 10 assists in the win over Texas. Via scoring and assists, accounted for 45 of Tennessee’s 82 points against the Longhorns. His performance was just the seventh time in program history that a player had 20 or more points and 10 or more assists in a game. Zeigler led the Vols in scoring and assists against Georgia with 11 points and seven assists—accounting for 25 total points in the winning effort. Also recorded four steals on the defensive end.

SEC Freshman of the Week – Kentucky guard Cason Wallace, a 6-foot-4, 193-pound freshman from Dallas, Texas, averaged 12 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.5 steals against Vanderbilt and No. 9 Kansas. The games were Wallace’s 11th and 12th double-figure scoring games of the season. Wallace also notched five steals against Kansas, marking his second-highest total this season and the fourth time he’s tallied four or more thefts in a game.

SEC NOTES

·   Six teams are receiving mention in the January 30 Associated Press Top 25 highlighted by Tennessee (2nd), Alabama (4th), and Auburn (25th). Missouri, Texas A&M, and Arkansas are among the teams receiving votes.

·   Two teams rank in the Top Five of the NCAA’s NET rankings (1st nationally), eight are in the Top 50 (t-2nd nationally), and 10 are in the Top 100 (t-2nd nationally).

·   Six SEC teams are rated among the top 20 defensive teams in the nation according to KenPom: Tennessee 1st, Alabama 6th, Florida 8th, Mississippi State 11th, Arkansas 12th, and Auburn 19th.

·   Five SEC players were named the USBWA’s Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List: Kobe Brown (MO), Ricky Council IV (AR), Brandon Miller (UA), Oscar Tshiebwe (UK), and KJ Williams (LS).

·   Alabama’s Brandon Miller leads all freshmen nationally with 19.5 points per game.

·   Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe had 37 points and 24 rebounds against Georgia on Jan. 17. It was the first 30/20 game by an SEC player since South Carolina’s Sindarius Thornwell had 44 points and 21 rebounds against Alabama on Feb. 7, 2017.

·   Four SEC coaches rank among the winningest active Division I coaches in the nation: John Calipari (4th with 781 wins), Rick Barnes (6th with 772 wins), Bruce Pearl (15th with 630 wins) and Kermit Davis (29th with 476 wins).

·   Alabama became the first team since the 1965-66 season to beat two teams ranked No. 1 (North Carolina on Nov. 27 and Houston on Dec. 10) before New Year’s Day.

·   Tennessee has won four straight games against Associated Press Top five opponents.

·   The SEC, ACC, and ESPN announced on Nov. 28 the formation of the SEC/ACC Challenge for men’s and women’s basketball, which will begin as part of the 2023-24 season.

·   The SEC has had 27 NCAA Tournament selections over the last three tournaments.

·   14 of 14 SEC teams have made at least one NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven tournaments.

·   The SEC has had at least one team advance to the Sweet 16 in 31 of the last 32 tournaments.

·   Nine different SEC teams have advanced to the Sweet 16 in the last five NCAA Tournaments. All 14 SEC members have advanced to the Sweet 16 since 1996.

·   The SEC has advanced at least one team to the Elite Eight in nine of the last 12 tournaments.

·   The SEC has advanced a team to the Final Four six of the last 11 tournaments.

·   50 SEC players have been selected in the last five NBA Drafts. That leads all conferences: 45 ACC, 33 Big Ten, 33 Pac-12, 25 Big 12 and 14 Big East.