The LSU men’s basketball team dreamed of going undefeated at home this season, but its hopes were thrashed when Texas A&M visited the PMAC on Saturday.
With a black mark now on their previously unblemished home record, a change of scenery is next for the Tigers (13-4, 2-2 Southeastern Conference), who will head out on a critical two-game road swing with matchups against Florida and Vanderbilt this week.
LSU has played in an opponent’s venue only four times in 17 games this season, and the next two teams it’ll face have a combined 16-4 record at home.
Despite the lack of road experience this season, the Tigers have shown an aptitude for playing away from the PMAC. LSU is 3-1 in true road games this season, with the lone defeat being a narrow 74-67 overtime loss to Missouri to start SEC play. It’s the best road start for LSU since the 2011-12 season.
Florida coach Billy Donovan, whose team will battle LSU at 6 p.m. tonight in the O’Connell Center, said this is a much different Tiger squad from the one he coached against last season.
“Their team last year, in a lot of ways, was probably dominated by [Anthony] Hickey and by Johnny O’Bryant,” Donovan said. “Now with those two guys not there, these other guys have really been able to blossom and flower. That’s a credit to [LSU coach] Johnny [Jones] and what he’s done in terms of helping those kids develop.”

It’s not only LSU sophomore forwards Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey, two preseason All-SEC selections, who have done the heavy lifting for Jones’ crew outside of the PMAC.
Junior guard Keith Hornsby leads the Tigers in road scoring with 19.6 points per game, including a career-high 24 to lead LSU past UAB on Dec. 18.
Much of Hornsby’s output has come from beyond the arc. In LSU’s four road games, the sharp-shooting Hornsby has connected on better than 50 percent (13-for-25) of his 3-point attempts, something he hasn’t quite figured out.
“It’s funny because I sometimes feel like I shoot better on the road, which is a good and bad thing,” Hornsby said.
Hornsby isn’t the only player to raise his level of play when LSU travels — it’s been a team effort. The Tigers tallied at least 15 assists in each of their three road wins against No. 18 West Virginia, UAB and Ole Miss. LSU finished with 12 assists against 19 turnovers in its lone road loss to Missouri.
In the Tigers’ three wins, they shot a moderate 45.2 percent from the field but lit up the nets from 3-point territory with a blistering 42.9 percent (21-of-49). Against Missouri, LSU went just 6-for-22 from deep.
Jones said the Tigers will need to replicate their performances against West Virginia and Ole Miss if they hope to get defeat the Gators and Vanderbilt, which LSU visits Saturday.
“I thought the guys were able to lock in and play between the lines and did an excellent job in those two venues [at West Virginia and Ole Miss],” Jones said. “It’s going to take that type of effort, concentration and focus to have success and be able to compete at a certain level this week.”

If the Tigers are to reach the level of play Jones desires, they’ll have to forget their late-game meltdown against the Aggies. It was a stinging loss for Jones and his club, especially given the 13-point lead the Tigers built early in the second half. But Jones said it’s the only way his young LSU squad can grow.
“You learn from the mistakes and have an opportunity to grow from them,” Jones said. “The last two games, we put ourselves in position to be able to grind it and do the things necessary there at the end. [Against Texas A&M], unfortunately, it cost us. I think that when you hurt and have pain from setbacks like that, you learn from it and get better.”
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.