LSU men’s basketball capitalized on Prairie View A&M’s offensive mistakes to top the Panthers 104-90 on Monday night.
The Tigers’ premiere offense shone despite the rocky defensive performance, showing their ability to capitalize on mistakes and outshoot opponents to set the contest apart. Both sets of cats lit up the scoreboard quickly, each putting up at least 50 points in the first half.
For most of the games this season, LSU has been able to utilize its dominant offense and capitalize on free throws to outplay its iffy defensive performances.
The defense has been an issue all season for the Tigers, allowing multiple teams to put up 50 or more points in a half. LSU head coach Matt McMahon commented on it after the season opener versus Tarleton State.
“Defensively, I thought we were really active,” McMahon said. “I was disappointed in the nine offensive rebounds we gave up in the first nine minutes of the game, but we got that cleaned up and were able to build our lead and get a good win here on opening night.”
Prairie View put up 56 points in the first half alone, but the Panthers didn’t give up after the first half.
A big piece of the Tigers’ offensive prowess throughout the game was the way the team had gelled so far this season. This starting roster has consistently been made of five transfer players, and as the season has progressed, these Bayou Bengals have put it together to become one cohesive team.
This game was one of the biggest challenges LSU has faced so far this season. The Panthers weren’t afraid to get in and take the ball, making this game the first one since the loss to Texas Tech that the Tigers have been evenly matched with an opponent.
Despite the challenges the Bayou Bengals experienced, Max Mackinnon has held the Tigers’ offense together all season, and it especially showed versus the Panthers.
Mackinnon is easily described as the glue of the Tigers’ offense. He doesn’t make it loud like Dedan Thomas Jr. or Mike Nwoko, and he isn’t as consistently outstanding like Marquel Sutton, but what Mackinnon does is he holds the roster together.
Mackinnon is consistently a top three scorer each game, averaging 12.8 points per game, which is third on the team. He hasn’t been the most noticed player so far this season, but his numbers have been critical, with most of the Tigers’ wins being around 15-20 points per game.
“I think [Mackinnon’s] critical, especially having a secondary ball handler,” McMahon said after the season opener. “It was pretty evident to me that part of Tarleton’s plan was to trap DJ and get the ball out of his hands, and so that opened up some opportunities for Max to knock down threes, but as you mentioned, also create some easy shots for his teammates.”
Tonight versus Prairie View, he put up 12 points, going 3-for-9 from the field.
Another bright spot for the Tigers in the victory was another double-double from Sutton. He had 21 points and 11 rebounds on the night.
The talk for the last few weeks has been whether this team has been battle tested for SEC play, starting shortly after the new year, and after this game against Prairie View, the defensive issues are more concerning than ever before.
But Nwoko remains hopeful, saying after the Southeastern game that the team just needs to trust the process to dominate.
“The big emphasis is having urgency in everything we do,” Nwoko said. “Our motto is brotherhood, relentlessness, and consistency. That’s our culture and our DNA. I think if we do all three of those things, we’ll be successful in the SEC.”
With just one more non-conference matchup left before SEC play starts, hopefully the Tigers can pull it together defensively.
Only time will tell, and on Monday, Dec. 29, LSU will take on Southern Miss for the final nonconference game of the season at 7 p.m.
