Well, no one expected LSU to go undefeated in league play. Hopes for such a season weren’t supposed to be snuffed out in merely 10 minutes, though.A pressure-filled game, courtesy of Alabama (11-4, 1-0) and new coach Anthony Grant, stifled any excitement built up for the afternoon by throttling the Tigers, 66-49, in the PMAC. The game wasn’t even that close.JaMychal Green led the Crimson Tide with 14 points, Senario Hillman notched 13 and Mikhail Torrance scored 12 as Alabama resoundinglystarted the Southeastern Conference season. Naturally, LSU coach Trent Johnson wasn’t pleased after the frustrating loss.”Obviously, that’s not the way you want to start league,” Johnson said. “They’re flat better than we are. They were flat better than we were today.”Junior guard Bo Spencer led LSU (9-6, 0-1) with 13 points, freshman forward Dennis Harris scored 12 and senior forward Tasmin Mitchell logged 11 points to lead the Tigers in the loss.Alabama’s pressure, along with a ferocious inside game, kept LSU off balance for a large portion of the game. The Tide coaxed 15 turnovers from the young Tigers and outscored LSU, 38-16, in the paint.Johnson, along with Spencer and Mitchell, didn’t think pressure was a factor in the outcome.”It wasn’t their presses [that hurt us] as much as it was our inability to make a simple, solid play,” Johnson said. “Where they pounded us was in the paint. I thought it was extremely easy for Green and [junior forward Justin] Knox and [freshman forward Tony] Mitchell. They set a tone.”Mitchell also pointed to LSU’s inability to convert opportunities rather than Alabama’s full court pressure as a crippling facet of the game.”It was mainly us,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t anything major they did. I don’t think we defended real well in the halfcourt. When they were in the press, we broke it. We just couldn’t convert on the other end. But, hats off to them. They played a great game. But I think we beat ourselves.”Both have a point. The Tide shot a meager 21 percent from three point range and a decent 45 percent from the field.More troubling for LSU was Alabama’s 19 points off LSU’s 15 turnovers.The Tigers looked like they would keep up early, but it didn’t last long. LSU’s last lead of the contest came just five minutes into the game at 6-4, after which the Tigers would never sniff another lead.Before long, Alabama’s lead had ballooned to double digits. Steady doses of Green kept LSU from threatening for the remainder of the half. Green’s 12 first period points helped the Crimson Tide take a 33-18 lead into the locker room.The Tide lead reached its peak at 26 points with 14 minutes left in the game, thanks to a 19-8 run to open the second period.The last 10 minutes were somewhat encouraging for the Tigers, though. Spencer finally heated up after knocking down consecutive three pointers. Harris scored most of his points late, flashing three-points skills not common for a 6-foot-11-inch player.”The positive was that Dennis played well,” Johnson said. “I thought he jumped up and made some plays, made some shots.”However disheartening the loss is, Mitchell still feels this team is on the verge of contending for a title in the SEC.”I don’t think we’re too far away but we’re not there yet,” Mitchell said. “We still have a ways to go. This was a negative game. Hopefully, we can use it as a positive and go to South Carolina and try to pick up a big victory over there.”- – – -Contact Chris Branch at [email protected]