AUBURN, Ala. – Despite a hard-fought effort, LSU’s lack of offensive production kept them from ever closing the gap in a 15-point loss against Auburn to start SEC play.
LSU dug itself in a deep hole early in the game going down 18-1, and not scoring from the field until over ten minutes into the game. Offense was hard to come by for the entire game, but Auburn completely stifled LSU for the first 10 minutes. Walker Kessler was the biggest reason for Auburn’s success defensively, as the 7-foot, 1-inch UNC transfer finished with 11 blocks and kept LSU from attacking the basket the way it wanted to.
“I thought we played with tremendous effort, but we didn’t play with enough discipline and smarts that we needed,” were Head Coach Will Wade’s thoughts immediately following the loss.
Later in the second half LSU was able to cut the deficit to as little as six, but was never able to get within five and take control of the game.
Xavier Pinson led the way for LSU in scoring with 13 points, but LSU’s guard play just wasn’t as good as it needed to be against a team of Auburn’s caliber. Pinson was 3-11 from the field and finished with six turnovers compared to just three assists. Eric Gaines, who accompanied Pinson in the backcourt finished with just six points on 1-9 shooting and had five turnovers.
“Our guards had three assists and 11 turnovers, that’s tough [to come back from],” Wade said when talking about how they got into a hole early in the game.
One positive that came from the guard play, however, was the emergence of freshman point guard Justice Williams. After Brandon Murray was unable to play with a hamstring injury, Williams was forced to burn his redshirt, and more than held his own in his first career game. Williams, despite coming off an injury, played 24 minutes for LSU and key for LSU on both ends of the court, which is promising for this team going forward.
“We didn’t put the training wheels on him,” Wade said when talking about how Williams was used in this game.
For a player making his first career start against a great team and in a hostile environment, Williams showed poise and contributed seven points.
Williams’ play was one major positive despite the loss, but both Wade and Darius Days were adamant that there were a lot of positives to take from this game.
“Even though we lost, we learned from it,” Days said.
One of the themes coming into the game was how Days and Pinson were the only players on the team who had experience playing in a true SEC atmosphere like the one they faced tonight. The crowd size had an effect on the game and made it even tougher for LSU when trying to come back from an early deficit. That is something that LSU will only learn from going forward and this experience will certainly help this team deeper into conference play. Wade has been adamant all year about how good the chemistry and cohesion of this team is and believes that will keep the locker room steady through losses like this.
“I still feel great about this team,” Wade said. “We’re built on a rock-solid foundation.”
It doesn’t get much easier for LSU, as the Tigers face Kentucky in their next game as conference play continues to ramp up. It will be vital for this team to shake off this result and keep its focus, as the SEC feels stronger than it’s ever been this season. Wade is confident of that however and assured that this loss will not carry over into the next game.
“I’ve got no doubt that we’re going to bounce back and be ready for Tuesday night at the PMAC.”
