The LSU men’s basketball team couldn’t find any momentum before it heads to New Orleans for this week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament.
The Tigers (17-13, 7-9 SEC) lost, 67-52, at Auburn (15-15, 5-11 SEC) on Saturday to drop their third-straight game and close out the regular season.
LSU coach Trent Johnson said he was disappointed by LSU’s performance but credited Auburn with playing what he called an “energetic” game.
“We were behind the eight ball from the start,” he said in a postgame radio interview.
The team finished the game shooting 34 percent from the field, and only one LSU player made more than three field goals. Sophomore guard Ralston Turner watched the start of the game from the bench for the first time this season, but still accumulated 34 minutes of playing time while leading the Tigers in scoring with 14 points.
Freshman guard John Isaac started in place of Turner and contributed nine points in 21 minutes off perfect three-of-three shooting from the field.
But the big men couldn’t execute for LSU.
Junior center Justin Hamilton and freshman forward Johnny O’Bryant III combined for 2-of-16 shooting on the day.
“We had more good looks in the post than you want to believe, and we just didn’t finish,” Johnson said.
O’Bryant led all players with eight rebounds, but he also led both teams with five turnovers.
LSU couldn’t capitalize on turnovers, scoring zero points off 10 forced turnovers, while Auburn scored 18 points off 17 forced turnovers.
The one bright spot for LSU was a 9-of-17 outing from beyond the 3-point line. LSU’s 53 percent 3-point average for the game dwarfed the Tigers’ season average of 32 percent.
But Johnson said LSU’s effort from beyond the arc wasn’t enough to make up for the Tigers’ lack of production in the paint.
“We’ve been struggling from the perimeter, and now we’re nine out of 17 from the perimeter shooting the three,” he said. “Then as much as we’ve been effective in the post, we don’t get it done there.”
After falling behind by 14 points with 11 minutes remaining in the game, LSU made a run to cut the Auburn lead to seven. But LSU failed to hit a field goal the next three minutes of the game, dashing any hopes of a comeback.
LSU had difficulty finding an answer for Auburn junior guard Frankie Sullivan, who led all scorers and matched his season high with 22 points.
LSU suffered a three-game losing streak earlier in the season, but the losses came at No. 14 Florida, at No. 16 Mississippi State and against No. 1 Kentucky.
“We’ve got to get back home, and we’ve got to regroup,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a new season now. We’ve got to put this behind us and get ready for the SEC tournament.”
LSU will enter the SEC tournament as the No. 9 seed, which matches the Tigers up with No. 8 seed Arkansas in the first game of the tournament at noon Thursday.
The winner of LSU-Arkansas will take on No. 1 Kentucky in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
 
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Contact Albert Burford at [email protected]