LSU entered Saturday night without a road win and hadn’t won a Quad I matchup since the end of 2022.
But through 25 minutes of its matchup against Florida, it looked like both of those facts were about to change.
At the 15:45 mark of the second half, forward Jalen Reed found KJ Williams with a wide-open path to the basket, who caught the pass and dunked it to give the Tigers a 44-32 lead. Their field goal percentage had steadily been climbing towards 50%, they were having success on the offensive glass and most importantly, they had all the momentum.
After a miserable season for fans, its players and its coaching staff, it appeared that LSU was at least going to send the season off on a high note. But the thing about appearances is they can often be deceiving.
From the moment LSU converted that dunk, everything fell apart. The Gators went on a quick run to get themselves back in the game and at the same time, Williams picked up three fouls in close succession, giving him four with just under 10 minutes remaining.
Things were already bad before the forward was taken out of the game and while the Tigers would go back-and-forth with Florida for the next couple minutes of game time, they were steadily losing momentum thanks to consistent turnovers and poor defense, particularly against three-pointers.
The run that sealed the deal began with just over five minutes to go, when Florida guard Will Richard converted a layup to give the Gators the lead, the last lead change of the game. That kicked off a 20-5 run where Florida converted on three three-pointers and forced three turnovers, making LSU look completely lost on both sides of the ball.
From the moment they gained their 12-point lead, the Tigers were outscored 47-23, ultimately flipping that lead into a 12-point deficit by the game’s conclusion. It was an ugly loss to conclude an ugly season, one where the team tied its largest number of SEC losses in the last 50 years with 16.
Things had looked promising at the start of the season, following considerable wins against Wake Forest and Arkansas and a close loss to Kansas State, who started Big 12 play on fire around the same time LSU fans were still optimistic. But the team would respond to its fandom’s optimism by losing 17 of its last 18 games to conclude the regular season.
The Tigers have one more shot to finish the season with a semblance of success, facing a mountain of challenges in the upcoming SEC Tournament. It comes into the tourney as the last seed in the conference and will face 11-seeded Georgia in the first round Wednesday night.
