Louisiana-Lafayette-Tennessee Preview

Chris Lofton may have finally found his touch. That could only mean good things for Tennessee.

Coming off his most productive scoring game of the year, the preseason All-American looks to help the 11th-ranked Volunteers close November with a win at home Friday night against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Lofton scored a season-high 24 points, making eight of his career-high 20 3-point attempts in Tennessee's 93-59 home win over North Carolina A&T on Tuesday. The Vols (6-1) bounced back from a 97-78 loss to then-No. 15 Texas in the finals of the StubHub Legends Classic on Saturday.

Tennessee attempted a school-record 50 3-pointers Tuesday, but made just 14 to shoot 28.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Vols, though, shot 43.0 percent for the game after making a season-low 38.8 percent of their shots against the Longhorns.

All but one of Lofton's field-goal attempts were from 3-point range as he shot 38.1 percent from the field. However, he did seem to find the rhythm he'd been lacking over the last month. He made six 3-pointers in a span of 3:42 of the first half to help the Vols shake off a poor start.

"When I hit that one, two, three in a row, it felt good," said Lofton, who needs to make 11 3-pointers to break the school record of 346 set by Allan Houston from 1989-93. "I thought I wasn't going to miss. It was just one of them days.

"We were coming off a loss. That's a bad taste in your mouth. I tried to get my teammates shots and get some shots for myself, too."

A second-team All-American last year when he averaged 20.8 points and shot 41.9 percent from 3-point range, Lofton has struggled in the early portion of his senior season. He's averaging a team-leading 15.3 points, but is shooting 36.1 percent overall and 36.5 percent from beyond the arc.

The 6-foot-2 guard could be ready to break out after averaging 19.5 points and shooting 43.6 percent in his last four contests. He went 7-for-11 from 3-point range and scored 31 points in Tennessee's 77-67 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Nov. 27, 2006.

Sophomore Tyler Smith, a transfer from Iowa, had 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds Tuesday for Tennessee, which was able to keep its first loss in the past.

"(Coach Bruce Pearl) said (the loss) was what we needed," Smith said. "I think that we thought at the time we were untouchable as far as us losing. I don't think we really approached that game the way we were supposed to."

Though Tennessee is 6-1 against Louisiana-Lafayette and has won three straight in the series, it should remain focused Friday night as it looks to extend its home winning streak to 22 games. The Vols are 20-0 at home versus non-conference opponents under Pearl.

The Rajun' Cajuns (1-3) look to avoid a fourth straight loss after falling 78-72 in overtime to Alabama-Birmingham on Tuesday.

Sophomore guard Elijah Millsap had a career-high 26 points on 10-for-22 shooting for Louisiana-Lafayette, which was picked to finish fifth in the seven-team West Division of the Sun Belt Conference.

Millsap, the brother of Utah Jazz forward Paul Millsap, leads the team with 17.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Louisiana-Lafayette, whose only win over Tennessee came in 1985, has lost eight straight against ranked opponents since a 79-76 victory over then-No. 12 Mississippi State on Nov. 23, 2002.