College Top 25: Tennessee takes it to Ragin’ Cajuns

If Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl has been looking for another scoring option to complement stars Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith, he may have found a couple in Tyler Smith and Jordan Howell.

Tyler Smith tied season highs with 22 points and eight assists, and Howell scored a career-high 17 to help the No. 11 Vols beat Louisiana-Lafayette 98-70 Friday night in Knoxville, Tenn., for their 22nd straight home victory.

“It’s carrying over from the last three games,” said Smith, who is averaging better than 15 points over that span. “We’re learning from our mistakes and getting better going forward.”

Smith transferred to Tennessee from Iowa to be near his ailing father, receiving an NCAA exemption that prevented him from having to sit out a season.

“It is good to see Tyler playing so well,” Pearl said. “This is three games in a row where he has shot well, passed well, rebounded and been to the free-throw line. He makes a difference.”

Howell hit five 3-pointers for the Vols (7-1), finishing 6 of 10 from the floor.

“You’ve got to be ready if the other team decides it has to stop Chris Lofton or JaJuan Smith,” Howell said. “Now, hopefully, they’ll say they’ve got to stop me. The last two nights I’ve been at our practice facility at 9 o’clock to get extra shots and it paid off tonight.”

JaJuan Smith added 15 points, moving him within 17 points of 1,000 for his career, Ramar Smith had 14 and Duke Crews 10.

Chris Gradnino led Louisiana-Lafayette (1-4) with 15 points, scoring 13 of them in the first half. David Dees added 14 points and Elijah Millsap 12.

Millsap, the Ragin’ Cajuns’ leading scorer and Sun Belt Conference freshman of the year, was coming off a career-high 26 points in his last game against Alabama-Birmingham.

Louisiana-Lafayette was in trouble from the start, making just seven of its first 23 attempts and committing 14 turnovers that led to 17 Tennessee points. The Vols moved the ball efficiently, compiling 16 assists on 20 first-half baskets while turning it over just six times.

The Volunteers are 35-4 when scoring more than 80 points under Pearl.

(13) Marquette 100, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 65: At Milwaukee, Dominic James scored 22 points and backcourt mate Jerel McNeal added 16 to power the Golden Eagles to a rout of the crosstown rival Panthers.

Lazar Hayward scored 19 points and David Cubillan 12 for the Golden Eagles (5-1), who looked sharp even though they had been idle since losing to Duke 77-73 on Nov. 21 in the Maui Invitational championship game.

James and McNeal scored the first two baskets of the second half to boost Marquette’s lead to 54-33. Torre Johnson’s basket briefly cut the advantage to 19 points, but that was as close as the Panthers would get.

Ricky Franklin scored 14 points and Deion James 10 for the Panthers (3-4), who played a ranked team for the first time this season. They’ve lost three straight and four of five.

The Panthers hung close to the Golden Eagles early and managed to tie it at 13 with 12:35 left in the first half. But the Golden Eagles went into halftime on a 15-3 run to lead 50-33.

The teams had not played each other since Dec. 8, 1998, when Marquette won 77-56.