Another game on the road, another slow start and another loss for the LSU men’s basketball team.
The Tigers fell to No. 1 Florida 79-61 on Saturday in what is now LSU’s seventh consecutive loss outside the confines of the PMAC.
The Gators led from the first minute of play, with LSU failing to ever close the gap between it and the Southeastern-Conference leader after Florida jumped ahead to an early 8-0 ead.
“[Florida] got off to a great start, knock down some big threes today and get the lead,” said LSU coach Johnny Jones on his post game radio show. “I thought they did a tremendous job in having a balance in scoring form top to bottom with their guys making plays.”
Florida shot 13 of 25 from beyond the 3-point line — the most the Tigers have allowed this season. As a team, the Gators shot nearly 60 percent from the field.
Unfortunately for LSU, the Tigers couldn’t find the same rhythm. LSU shot 23-60 from the field after a late push helped close the point margin on the Gators. LSU put together a 13-2 run in the final three minutes of play.
Jones said he was proud of the way his team continued to battle during the closing minutes, despite the game already being well in hand for Florida.
“I think you have to credit [Florida],” Jones said. “They’re a great defensive basketball team. They don’t give you a lot of second chance opportunities. … They make sure you play over the top, they did a great job on doubling up on Johnny [O’Bryant] and they did that with their post guys.”
O’Bryant led the Tigers offense with 18 points and seven rebounds in his second straight game out of foul trouble.
LSU freshman forward Jordan Mickey didn’t have the same luck avoiding the referees on Saturday, after a pair of early fouls put Mickey on the bench for large portions of the game.
But when Mickey was in the game, he posted a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
LSU travels to Vanderbilt on Thursday for its final road game of the season before returning to Baton Rouge next weekend for Senior Night against Georgia.