LSU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Matt McMahon spoke to the media following an unsettling loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks. This loss makes the Tigers 2-10 against SEC opponents.
McMahon opened by crediting Head Coach John Calipari and his team for their performance that resulted in a 91-62 victory for Arkansas.
“Before I get to our, tremendous credit tonight to Arkansas. I thought they performed on an incredibly high level.” spoke McMahon.
He more specifically gave props to the standout Razorback freshman duo that consists of Darius Acuff Jr. who led with 5 assists and 28 points, and Meleek Thomas, who contributed a total of 20 points.
“The backcourt with two freshman guards in (Darius) Acuff Jr. and (Meleek) Thomas, they’re just fantastic. With Acuff, you throw different coverages at him, but he plays with great poise, and he makes the right play it seems like 99% of the time.” stated McMahon when asked on the standouts.
The Razorbacks were able to shoot 56.5, score 64 points in the paint, and go 21-8 on the offensive board. The Tigers only managed to outrebound Arkansas 43-36, which was not enough to compete with a physical Arkansas team. Who managed to gain a double-digit lead within the first five minutes of gameplay.
“We left some opportunities on the board and certainly wouldn’t have gone in (to half) with the lead, but we have to be a lot more efficient offensively in the first half to keep that single-digit game going into the break.” Matt McMahon when asked about the overall performance of his offense.
Coach finished with an update on Guard Max Mackinnon, who did not appear in the second half: “Max Mackinnon injured his knee there. We don’t think it’s anything serious, but he’ll be evaluated in the morning, and we’ll see where we stand from there moving forward.”
McMahon and the Fighting Tigers will be back in action this weekend as they hit the road to Knoxville, Tennessee, where they will face the Tennessee Volunteers. The team will be looking to add their 3rd win to the conference win column and will tip off at 5 p.m. CT.
