We are a week away from March, and LSU is playing its best basketball of the season.
The Tigers strung together their first consecutive victories since December after taking care of business versus South Carolina at the PMAC last Tuesday.
If LSU wanted any chance to take down No. 2 Florida, it was going to have to come onto the court swinging from the jump.
“I would say that when we put 40 minutes together, I don’t think nobody can really beat us,” Williams said. “That’s been our biggest thing the whole year, only putting one half together these last two games. We put two on together, and we’ve been rewarded. So, I feel like we can do that again on Saturday, along with execution, we should be fine.”
When the game tipped off on Saturday afternoon, things were not fine. It looked like the same old story for the Tigers.
LSU trailed the Gators 29-15, incapable of buying a bucket until something finally clicked.
The Tigers put together a 3-point barrage, sinking four threes to close out the last 6:41 of the first half on a 22-2 run.
Mike Williams’ deep hurl with the shot clock winding down helped LSU carry a six-point 37-31 lead into the half. Williams and Curtis Givens shot 3-for-6 (50%) from downtown to finish the night with 10 and 11 points, respectively.
It was put up or shut up time, and the purple and gold’s shots were finally falling. But nothing good lasts forever, and the Tigers’ luck ran dry in the final frame.
Florida outscored the Bayou Bengals 48-28 throughout the final 20 minutes to win 79-65 in Baton Rouge.
Freshman Robert Miller played his most complete collegiate game, shooting 6-for-8 from the field, 2-for-3 from three and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line to notch a career-high 19 points with 10 rebounds. It’s the first double-double of his NCAA career.
Despite Miller’s effort underneath, LSU was outrebounded 48-33 and outscored 44-24 in the paint.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to give them enough help on the glass,” Tigers head coach Matt McMahon said.
The presence of Miller alone was insufficient for LSU to grapple with the Gators. This team will not win many games when Cam Carter isn’t producing offensively.
In an eerily similar fashion to that against Texas, Carter shot 3-for-13 (23.1%) from the field and 0-for-6 (0%) from 3-point range versus Florida to cap off an uncharacteristic single-digit outing with seven points.
“I think we frustrated him a little bit,” Gators head coach Todd Golden said. “We did a great job of making it hard on him, but he’s a great player, and I’m proud of our guys for what they did with him tonight.”
Jordan Sears reached the NCAA 2000-point club, but that’s about all worth mentioning from his two-point finish.
LSU can take its first-half performance as a moral victory, but it comes during a lost SEC campaign built on nothing but. The Tigers were in a prime position to upset the No. 2 team in the country on their own home floor, and they couldn’t get the job done.
But through it all, McMahon knows his team’s mindset needs to stay consistent. He knows his team still has an opportunity to build momentum with four ranked opponents on tap to close out the regular season.
“I think it has to be the same,” McMahon said. “[I’m] obviously disappointed in the results of the record, but you just keep coming back to work every day to get better, keep improving as a player and try to find a way to win the next game.”
LSU will look to win the next one when they host No. 6 Tennessee next Tuesday night.
