It’s no secret the LSU men’s basketball team has suffered in Southeastern Conference play. The Tigers (9-14, 0-9) are off to their second-worst start ever in SEC play, and the blame could lie on many factors.LSU only has two seniors on the roster — one of whom hasn’t played all season because of a knee injury — and has three walk-on players who have seen significant playing time this season.But the most glaring cause of the Tigers’ in-conference ineffectiveness may be their lack of offensive production. “We’re doing the best we can,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “Guys aren’t trying to miss shots.”The Tigers are the worst offensive team in the conference, scoring only 62.7 points per contest — 5.5 points fewer than the next closest team, Alabama.They are also last in scoring margin among SEC teams, being outscored by an average of 3.7 points a game, and they are the only team to average a negative scoring margin.By contrast, the league leader in points, Kentucky, averages 82.3 points a game and has a positive scoring margin of 16.4 points.When the Wildcats and the Tigers faced off last Saturday, both teams scored less than their averages, but Kentucky still won by a comfortable 26-point margin.”Kentucky was a really good defensive team,” said LSU senior forward Tasmin Mitchell. “They were blocking everything, and they were really active and athletic out there on the perimeter. It’s greater competition. It’s tougher to score against teams like that.”In the last nine games, LSU has scored below its season average seven times, and in a contest against Alabama on Jan. 27, the Tigers scored only 38 points — their lowest point total since a 37-32 loss against Alabama in 1948. That contest took place 37 years before the NCAA adopted the shot clock.One of the causes for LSU’s lack of offensive production may be a lack of diversity in its scoring attack. “We haven’t had much production off the bench, but we’ve been trying to get it,” said junior guard Bo Spencer. “We’ve just got to start screening people and executing the plays, and then we’ll probably start getting more offensive production from everyone.”Mitchell averages 17.3 points per game, Spencer drops an average of 15.5 points per contest and sophomore forward Storm Warren averages 12.2 points per game, but scoring drops off significantly after that.No other players average more than five points per game, with the No. 4 scorer on the team, freshman forward Dennis Harris, averaging 4.1 points per game.”We’re young on the bench,” Mitchell said. “To put those guys out in the water like that against Kentucky or someone like that, it’s really tough to ask for a lot.”Another cause for LSU’s offensive woes may just be its shooting. The Tigers are also last in the SEC in field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage. They are shooting 40.6 percent from the floor and only a staggering 27.3 percent from downtown.”We’re not really making shots, but they’ve all been well-contested,” Mitchell said. “These are great teams ,and they’re lengthy, so it’s tough, but you’ve got to work through that.”Perhaps as a direct result of their offensive impotency, the Tigers’ assist-making capabilities have suffered as well. LSU is No. 11 in the SEC in assists with only 11.26 per game. The only team worse than LSU is South Carolina, who averages 9.95 a contest.Sophomore guard Chris Bass leads the team with three per game with Spencer right on his heels with a 2.9 assist per game average.—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]