It didn't involved any record performance or clutch shots in the final seconds.

In fact, No. 5 Tennessee's 65-59 win over LSU late Tuesday night at Pete Maravich Center hardly matched the dramatics of its last two games.

On a night where top five Florida, one of the teams along with the Vols vying for one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, was toppled at Georgia, they'll take it.

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Tennessee (23-5, 10-5 SEC) struggled offensively at times, a far cry from the epic outings Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler had in the previous two games against Vanderbilt and Texas A&M, while the Tigers (14-14, 3-12) stayed within striking distance and even put together a late run in the final minute to make a largely uneventful game a little more interesting down the stretch.

It was in the paint where Tennessee dominated. That was where Felix Okpara, who has shown up on the injury report before tip-off twice in the last week, headlined the Vols, scoring 15 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

Tennessee out-scored and out-rebounded LSU in the paint, 32-20 and 44-28, respectively.

For the third-straight game, Zeigler followed up a low-scoring first half with prolific second, recording 11 of his 17 total points over the last 20 minutes and Lanier finished with 14.

The Vols shot 44.8% from the field, including 22.2% from three-point range.

Vyctorius Miller led the Tigers with 17 points.

Tennessee got off to another slow shooting start.

The Vols shot just 30% in the first five-plus minutes, their only made shot from the perimeter from Chaz Lanier.

LSU didn't fare much better, and Jordan Gainey ended a drought with a 3-pointer to put Tennessee back in front. Dji Bailey answered to draw the Tigers even again at 10-10 with 12:41 to go in the first half.

The Vols went more than two minutes without a basket, but Jahmai Mashack ended it with a three, then Felix Okpara followed it up with a layup to extend Tennessee's lead to 20-14 with 7:26 left.

LSU, meanwhile was dredging through a scoring drought that went for more than six minutes as the Vols' stretched their advantage to 22-14 on another Okpara score with less than five minutes remaining.

Turnovers were a big reason why. Tennessee had forced five during that stretch before Daimion Collins hit a jumper to end the Tigers' drought at 22-16.

Zakai Zeigler, who sat a few minutes after a couple of early turnovers, laced a 3-pointer to that beat the shot-clock and put the Vols up eight. Collins followed suit with a deep three to pull LSU within three at 26-23 with 40 seconds on the clock.

Neither team could score down the stretch and Tennessee went into the intermission on top, but missed an opportunity to pull away after the Tigers went several minutes without scoring.

The Vols made up for some of the offense lost in the first half with a productive start to the second. Igor Milicic Jr. scored his first points on a backdoor cut to the basket and Lanier made a three to swell the lead to 31-23.

LSU had seemingly quelled Tennessee's run with scores from Collins and Cam Carter, but back-to-back and-ones from Okpara and Zeigler upped the Vols' lead to 11 and they appeared on the brink of pulling away with 14:12 left.

The Tigers got their deficit under double digits when Robert Miller III scored, but after Milicic chased down his own missed free throw, Gainey tallied a jumper to again put the Vols up 10 at 43-33.

LSU kept hanging around, though. Tennessee went two minutes without a field goal and the Tigers pulled within five at 45-40 off of another score from Miller with inside of 10 minutes left.

Okpara provided the Vols with a much-needed basket to go up seven. He added another to follow up a Zeigler score and Tennessee led, 51-42.

The dagger for LSU came amid another scoreless stretch, this one going for nearly four minutes when Lanier buried a 3-pointer on the other end that provided the Vols a 14-point cushion.

The Tigers tried for one more push, rattling off a run to trim their deficit to five with 10 seconds left and had a chance to get back within one possession, but were unable to.

Mashack all but put the game away with free throws.

Tennessee hosts Alabama in another top 10 showdown on Saturday.

The Vols play the No. 6 Crimson Tide in a game that could go a long way in deciding one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament at Food City Center (4 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Tennessee has won three-straight in the series, including an 81-74 triumph in Tuscaloosa in the last meeting between the two teams a year ago.

Alabama (22-5, 11-3) has lost two of its last three. It hosted No. 24 Mississippi State on Tuesday.

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