The LSU Tigers lost their second game of the season to the Alabama Crimson Tide 109-92 as the Tigers lost back-to-back games in SEC play.
The Crimson Tide came into this game shooting 38% from three and their hot shooting thrived in their win as they made 18 3-pointers to LSU’s seven.
Both teams shot the ball extremely well in the first half with LSU shooting 59% from the field and 50% from three and Alabama 43% from the field shooting 39% from three.
Alabama took a 10-point lead in the first half and the key reason why was due to the 3-point shooting as it hit nine 3-pointers in the first half. Latrell Wrightsell was the catalyst to their exceptional 3-point shooting as he had three 3-pointers and 12 points in the first half.
As for LSU, Will Baker was the story of the first half as he had 22 points in the first half establishing himself as the go-to guy early. He used his tremendous footwork to score in the paint and the mid-range area and even knocked down a couple of threes beyond the arch
The gameplan for LSU was simple, get the highest percentage shot and that’s exactly what the Tigers did as they established themselves in the paint early scoring 24 points. Trae Hanibal played a key role in their success as he was distributing the basketball very well with five assists in the first half.
However, after a close first half, LSU wasn’t able to pull away as the hot 3-point shooting continued. Baker only had two points in the second half and was held in check for the rest of the game
The Tigers started to turn the ball over in the second half. After only having five turnovers in the first half, LSU gave the ball away seven times in the second half allowing Alabama to take control. A lot of those turnovers led to points as Alabama had 23 points off turnovers.
Coach Matt McMahon stated that although Alabama’s 3-point shooting was a big part of the loss, it was the turnovers that led to the game being blown out in the second half.
“ Really punished us on the turnovers”, McMahon said. “We had 12 and they turn those 12 turnovers into 23 points”
Hannibal also ended up fouling out of the game and for someone who has been playing well in the starting role, it was a big loss on both ends of the court as he missed the majority of the second half.
The bench did however give the team a good spark. It was a team effort as eight players scored players such as Jalen Cook and Tyrell Ward both finished in double-digits with 20 and 15 respectively. Derek Fountain and Hunter Dean also gave great energy and hustle as they provided great minutes to shift the game back into LSU’s favor. But it wasn’t enough as the offense started to become stagnant down the stretch.
“ Poor, poor, poor shot selection,” McMahon said. “Every man for himself and that hadn’t been a good formula for us. I think our point guards had 10 assists at halftime, our point guards finished the game with 10 assists. We’re better when the ball moves and play a lot of team basketball it’s been a lot better formula for us.”
This was something that LSU couldn’t afford to happen as this was a game that it could’ve won. At one point LSU was up one with nine minutes remaining and had the opportunity to increase that lead but wasn’t able to do so.
McMahon also took the blame for the lack of execution during their scoring drought.
“It’s just poor coaching on my part,” McMahon said. I got to have us a lot more discipline to execute in those moments and get the ball to where it needs to go.”
Alabama also started to hit a lot of timely shots down the stretch and had multiple second-chance opportunities that didn’t allow the Tigers to get close.
