“Last night was definitely a bad loss for us.”
Freshman guard Antonio Blakeney knew a bad loss was coming, and he couldn’t help noticing the mass of people heading for the exits. Tiger fans started emptying out the PMAC at 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday, predicting the forthcoming 76-69 defeat against Alabama.
It didn’t bother him, he said, but it was significant enough to mention before speaking about LSU’s upcoming 4:30 p.m. matchup against Tennessee on Saturday in Knoxville’s Thompson- Boling Arena.
“I noticed it. I just kept playing, but I was seeing a lot of people walk out,” Blakeney said. “We’ve bounced back pretty well all year. We’ve just got to bounce back, again. Which, we will do.”
Through his sniffles and mucus congestion, Blakeney said he was sick for Wednesday’s game and added “a lot of people [are sick].”
“I played horrible,” he said. “I didn’t do enough to help the team win. Offensively, I wasn’t aggressive enough. I didn’t make free throws. I had lapses on defense. Just didn’t do enough.”
Blakeney, though, is not the only wounded Tiger. Freshman point-forward Ben Simmons suffered a left ring finger injury either the end of the South Carolina game on Feb. 10 or against Texas A&M on Saturday, but LSU coach Johnny Jones couldn’t recall the exact moment of injury.
On multiple attempts on Wednesday, Simmons attacked the rim dribbling with his left hand but had to switch the ball to his right to finish the shot. Simmons was not made available to the media on Thursday to discuss any discomfort with the finger.
“It happened a couple games ago,” Jones said. “I don’t know if it was during the A&M game or at the end of the South Carolina game.”
Jones said Simmons’ hand possibly was bothering him through his 10-of-19 night from the free-throw line against Alabama.
Free throws and defensive lapses plagued the scarred Tigers all evening on Wednesday. The team’s momentum was shot after securing a big win against Texas A&M on Feb. 13.
Saturday’s early afternoon matchup would be the ideal opportunity for the Tigers to regain focus and gain control of the SEC, but Blakeney said LSU will recoup its momentum in practice Thursday.
“Yeah, you get your momentum back in practice,” Blakeney said. “Today, we’re going to go hard and get right.”
Heading into Knoxville losing two of its last three games, LSU — a constantly shaky team on the road with a 3-5 mark this season away from the PMAC — will again face one of the SEC’s premier perimeter scorers in Tennessee senior guard Kevin Punter Jr.
On three different occasions the Tigers faced off against Buddy Hield, Stefan Moody and Wednesday night against Retin Obasohan — all of which combined to average 33.3 points against LSU this season.
“We’ve had some guards go off on us,” Jones said.
Punter ranks second in the SEC, behind Moody, in scoring, averaging 22.3 points per game.
“He’s an excellent scorer and can really play,” Jones said. “He has the ball in his hands a lot. When Punter has the ball in his hand, he poses a big-time threat for us. We’re going to have to do a great job against him.”
Alongside Punter, Tennessee is known to be a dominant home-court protector.
The Volunteers conquered then-No. 24 South Carolina, 78-69, on Jan. 23 and then-No. 20 Kentucky, 84-77, on Feb. 2.
Sophomore forward Craig Victor II, though, is more than accepting of the opportunity to play in Knoxville.
“They play pretty good on their home turf,” Victor said. “But, it’s a good way for us to put this loss behind us. It’s an opportunity to start over.”