LSU men’s basketball overcame yet another roadblock along their way to 2022 postseason play. Losing each of their last two games prior to Saturday, the Tigers have been struggling due to several things such as foul trouble and an overload of turnovers. LSU has also seen issues getting the ball back off the glass as only two players on the team, Darius Days (7.9) and Tari Eason (6.9), average more than five rebounds per game. After a crushing 75-55 victory against Missouri, LSU looks towards the NCAA Tournament come March.
Early turnovers spelled trouble for LSU, but the offensive mistakes were cleaned up as the game progressed. There was no back and forth in this contest as there was only one lead change, and LSU went on to outscore Missouri 30-24 in the first half and 45-31 in the second half. Several key performances led LSU to their much-needed victory. The trio of Eason, Xavier Pinson and Shareef O’Neal seemed to be the perfect mixture on the hardwood.
Eason paved the way for his squad after recording an impressive performance of 18 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks. This was a bounce back game for Eason as he is on the heels of the Kentucky contest where he fouled out and scored an uncharacteristic 5 points. Eason led the team in points and steals, but once again his night ended early due to foul trouble. I spoke to Eason on the mindset going forward after this performance, and what he will do to prevent falling into foul trouble once again.
“I just try to do what I got to do to help the team win,” Eason said. I asked him about his mindset on preventing fouls going forward in which Xavier Pinson chimed in with the comment “Stop reaching.”
The narrative going into Saturday revolved around how Xavier Pinson would play against his former team, the Missouri Tigers. Pinson offered a helping hand to head coach Will Wade in preparing for Saturday’s contest.
I asked Wade on Pinson’s participation in preparing to which he replied, “he told us what two of their plays were called. He couldn’t give us a whole lot on personnel. We stole one of his favorite plays at the beginning of the year, and we’ve run it all year. It was one of his favorite plays there, and it has turned into one of our better plays. We took that from them, and we put it in a different package tonight so we can disguise it,” added Wade.
Pinson said he “missed being in the black and gold, and it was good to see the jerseys.” However, Pinson’s reunion with his former squad was bittersweet as the style of defense played by Missouri was an intense, hands-on and physical scheme. Pinson was trapped instantly once crossing the half court stripe, which led to him recording five turnovers.
Another impressive performance for the LSU Tigers was none other than Shareef O’Neal. His father, Shaquille O’Neal, was in attendance for Saturday’s conference showdown. O’Neal put on quite the performance for his spectators as he recorded a season high in points with nine and rebounds with seven. O’Neal led the team in rebounding, something the Tigers have been lacking as of late. Head coach Will Wade acknowledged the impressive performance by O’Neal in the press conference following the victory. “He played great, we need to have Shaq here more often,” added Wade.
LSU sees most of its success in the win column during home games, boasting a 14-2 record at home. “We need to win our home games,” added Wade. The Tigers put on an impressive second half and capitalized on the three areas they were struggling most. LSU recorded six fewer turnovers than Missouri and four fewer fouls. Sadly, rebounding is still a problem for the Tigers as they were under their per game average of 37.9 total rebounds with 30 total rebounds on Saturday night. The team is headed in the right direction as they are performing more efficiently on the offensive side of the ball. LSU scored 25 points off turnovers, making up a third of its total points in the contest, 75. This win is a solid momentum booster for LSU as the Tigers looks forward to a tough matchup on March 2 against conference rival, No. 18 Arkansas.
