The LSU men’s basketball team was harassed on defense all night, falling to the Alabama Crimson Tide 74-66 at the PMAC.
LSU’s offense struggled, as the Tigers only managed to shoot 40.4 percent from the field and a meager 28 percent from three. The Crimson Tide played aggressive on defense all night, forcing the Tigers into contested shots.
“We just have to come out and play harder, we didn’t play as hard as we normally do,” senior forward Aaron Epps said. “We can’t let that happen again.”
The Tigers fall to 11-5 and 2-2 in the Southeastern Conference on the season after rattling off a pair of SEC wins on the road. Alabama was led by sophomore guard Dazon Ingram who had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Tide.
The Tigers have now lost their first two home games in SEC play. The loss was witnessed by a sold out crowd that stood as the 5th largest crowd in PMAC history.
“I feel like I let everyone down,” LSU coach Will Wade said. “Just to have that many folks here, we haven’t figured it out at home yet.”
Freshmen guard Tremont Waters led all scorers with 19 points and Epps and senior forward Duop Reath added 14 and 12 for the Tigers. The Tigers offense could never get started, finishing with their second lowest scoring total this season.
The Tide’s lead grew to as large as 15 with 7:31 to go in the second half. Wade received a crucial technical foul with one minute to go in the game when he bumped an official arguing a call. The technical foul stretched the Alabama lead to eight with little time remaining.
“I’m just so competitive and wanna win,” Wade said. “Sometimes you want it too much, I just gotta do a better job with that.”   
The Tigers look to avenge their loss on Tuesday when they face off against the George Bulldogs (11-5, 2-3) at 6 p.m. in the PMAC.