LSU came into the SEC tournament as the 14-seed, the least likely to win it based on both its conference record, the eye test and a multitude of bottom-of-the-conference stat lines.
Still, for just a moment, the Tiger faithful had hope.
After defeating Georgia in one of its better performances of the season, especially on the boards, there was a reason to believe LSU could make a run. Its next opponent was one it had already beaten before.
The one after that was Kentucky, who it had lost to by three on the road. Despite the improbability, it was within the realm of possibility for it to make things interesting down the stretch.
It didn’t go out all at once against Vanderbilt. It went at more of a steady, uneven pace. The Tigers even made things particularly interesting at the beginning of the second half, getting the game within one point before a lid was placed above their rim.
They would go on to miss 11 of their next 12 shots, a shooting drought accompanied by a 12-0 run from the Commodores. Though they had managed to bounce back after a similar lapse to start the game, they didn’t have enough left in the tank to get it done here.
LSU managed to stay within one quick run of getting back into it, thanks mostly to 20 offensive rebounds keeping it semi-productive offensively. But its final stat line of 33% from the field and 26% from three held it back in the end.
Along with and arguably the cause of its inefficiency from the field were a couple of rough individual performances. Jalen Reed, Adam Miller and Justice Williams converted on zero shots from the field despite chucking up a combined 24 attempts.
That’s especially disappointing considering how well its three best contributors performed.
In his final game with the Tigers, KJ Williams had 26 points and 11 rebounds, shooting the ball 62.5% from the field and 50% from three. In his last six games, he averaged just over 25 points per game, leading the team in scoring in all of them.
Trae Hannibal put up back-to-back double-doubles and was a huge reason why they were so successful on the glass, concluding the game with a team-leading 13 rebounds, 7 of which came on offense. And Cam Hayes did the remaining heavy lifting on the scoreboard for the Tigers, putting up 16 points on 45% shooting from the field.
While its conclusion to the season wasn’t what fans hoped for, the team at least managed to give fans something to be excited about one last time. March Madness has produced some mindboggling stories over the decades, but this scenario proved to just be wishful thinking.
Barring a complete migration to the transfer portal, there’s a lot of promise that will remain on this roster next season despite the loss of KJ Williams. McMahon’s second season is a pivotal one if he wants to remain in decent standing with athletic director Scott Woodward but for now, be optimistic.
