Every which way it could be done, LSU was beaten — on the glass, on defense, on offense and in hustle.
So, in short, it was a ho-hum Southeastern Conference road trip for the Tigers.
Texas A&M out-rebounded LSU 39-32 and eviscerated an uninspired Tiger defense to the tune of a 36-26 advantage in the paint and an 83-73 win in College Station.
The loss was LSU’s fourth consecutive on the road, and the Aggies were the second straight team to produce their SEC-high point total against the same Tiger defense many praised after it clamped down on Kentucky and thwarted Arkansas.
Senior forward Shavon Coleman steered a lackadaisical LSU offense with 21 points, while junior forward Johnny O’Bryant III again battled foul trouble to chip in 15 points and grab six rebounds.
“They were the aggressor,” LSU coach Johnny Jones in a postgame radio interview. “We didn’t do a great job of containing, keeping people in front of us. The defense broke down and allowed some easy scoring opportunities.”
Leading a Texas A&M offense that has looked inept for much of SEC play, guard Jamal Jones paced the Aggies with 19 points, while Davonte Fitzgerald — who averaged only 7.1 points coming into the contest — chipped in 11 in the first half.
The Aggies had only Jamal Jones averaging double figures coming into the contest and were fresh off a 50-point output against Georgia and still reeling from a dismal 36-point showing in a beatdown against Florida.
Junior guard Anthony Hickey buried 3-pointers on two of LSU’s first three possessions while O’Bryant added a jump-hook to nab an early 8-2 lead for the Tigers.
The lead stretched to as many as six in the first eight minutes before O’Bryant was whistled for two fouls in 11 seconds, sending him to the bench with 12:29 to go in the half.
Again a constant of the Tigers’ road woes, O’Bryant rode the pine as A&M scored at will, erasing what had become an eight-point lead behind Fitzgerald’s three 3-pointers and the Tigers’ inability to penetrate the lane or find a groove from outside.
Fitzgerald took a nasty spill late in the first half on a drive to the basket, injuring his knee and sidelining him for the rest of the game.
After carrying a 43-37 lead into the locker room, the Aggies used a quick 5-0 spurt to open the second half to push the lead to 11.
From there, the Tigers appeared to have a pulse, rattling off a 10-3 run to cut the lead to four after O’Bryant’s baseline slam dunk.
Jamal Jones followed with a three, LSU freshman forward Jordan Mickey turned it over and A&M guard Fabyon Harris scored in the paint to get the lead back to nine and quash any hopes of a Tiger rally as LSU never got within less than seven the rest of the way.
“They executed well,” Johnny Jones said. “We just didn’t defend or rebound well enough to win this basketball game.”