LSU sophomore forward Jarell Martin can’t wait to get back in the PMAC. The last loss there still bothers him.
Not only did LSU’s defeat by Texas A&M on Jan. 17 give the Tigers their second loss in Southeastern Conference play, it ended their hopes of going undefeated at the PMAC. It’s something that hasn’t been done in 35 seasons — when the PMAC was called the LSU Assembly Center — but Martin and his teammates must wait another year to get that chance again.
“I’m ready for us to get back home,” Martin said. “Losing to [Texas] A&M was very disappointing. We wanted to win all of our home games and not let someone come in our house and win, but we’ll be ready to come back here and play in front of our fans.”
After wins against Florida and Vanderbilt in a two-game road swing, LSU (15-4, 4-2 SEC) plays four of its next five games inside its 43-year-old home venue. The Tigers are 9-1 at the PMAC, the best record in program history since the 2008-09 season.
That 2008-09 squad maintained its edge down the stretch, only losing two games at home all season. This season’s Tigers want the same, hoping a poor second half against Texas A&M won’t derail their ultimate goal of an NCAA Tournament berth.
“We played a good 35 minutes [against Texas A&M], but it was those last five minutes that cost us,” said LSU sophomore guard Tim Quarterman. “The goal now is not to not lose at home anymore.”
LSU shot just 29.4 percent from the field in the second half against the Aggies. But perhaps even more bothersome to LSU coach Johnny Jones was the Tigers’ inability to pound the ball down low to Martin and fellow sophomore forward Jordan Mickey.
By halftime, Martin and Mickey had combined for 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field. They scored only 12 total after the break.
Instead of getting its big men involved, LSU jacked up 13 3-pointers in the second half and made only one. Quarterman said the late-game meltdown helped the Tigers realize how they need to perform when the game is on the line.
“It made us focus on end-of-game situations,” Quarterman said. “In practice, we did a lot of scenarios of end-of-game situations after the A&M game just to focus on that. That was a big part of the game. That’s where we lost that game, at the end.”
The Tigers made up for the loss to the Aggies by racking up a pair of SEC road wins in completely different fashions. Against Florida last Tuesday, LSU led by five points at halftime before finishing with an 18-point victory, its largest conference win of the season.
On Saturday, the Tigers trailed Vanderbilt by five at the break before rallying for a four-point victory in overtime. In both games, LSU shot at least 54 percent from the field in the second half — a far cry from its second-half shooting struggles against Texas A&M.
In both games, the Tigers continuously pounded the ball down low to their two preseason All-SEC big men. After being held in check in the second half against A&M, Martin and Mickey notched a combined 40 points per game against the Gators and the Commodores.
With a home contest against South Carolina (10-8, 1-5 SEC) next up, the Tigers get a chance to put the Texas A&M loss out of their minds for good and show how much they’ve learned. But the loss will eat at them until tipoff, said junior guard Keith Hornsby.
“[The loss to Texas A&M] couldn’t help but bother us,” Hornsby said. “[Going undefeated at home] was one of the team’s goals at the beginning of the year. We knew how hard it was because the opponents coming in here were tough. It always sucks. We don’t want anybody coming in and stealing a game in our house, but we still have a lot of games left to play.”