An angry Matt McMahon slammed his hand on the press room table in frustration.
“I apologize to everyone who came tonight,” he said to open his postgame press conference.
Despite coming back from down 24 points, his LSU team lost at home to Nicholls State Friday, an embarrassing loss for a program still trying to prove itself.
“It’s my responsibility to have our team locked in and ready to compete and take great pride in putting that LSU jersey on. I failed miserably in that challenge tonight,” McMahon continued.
His postgame response was candid and emotional, and it needed to be. For a team coming off a historically bad season in his first year, a bad early season loss was the last thing the program’s image needed.
It was an ugly loss too.
Though LSU only lost by two points, it trailed by as many as 24 in the first half. Defensively, McMahon’s team didn’t have an answer for Nicholls’ spacing which took advantage of LSU’s switch-heavy defense and rained 3-pointers in the first half.
All of LSU’s perceived offensive progress was nowhere to be found. The early solution to Nicholls’ zone defense was to pass around the perimeter and chuck up 3-pointers. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they only shot 1 of 11 from beyond the arc in the first half, putting them in a 19-point hole at the break.
And when the team rallied late to come back, it couldn’t get the baskets it needed. Nicholls could.
Jalen White made the game-winning 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left and Will Baker’s last-second shot came off the side of the rim.
The humiliation was complete.
Even when LSU lost 16 of its 18 conference games last season, there was no embarrassing nonconference slip up. Some might call this loss a new low, but maybe it’s just another uncomfortable reminder of what was true all along.
There isn’t a quick fix to the program right now.
When McMahon was hired to replace the successful but then fired former head coach Will Wade, it was understood that a rebuild would take place.
McMahon inherited a program that had no players, but a scandal and pending NCAA investigation that left a cloud over the program in recruiting his first season.
He was forced to build through the transfer portal, but four of the six transfers signed prior to his first season either graduated or were back in the portal following that first year.
McMahon signed six more transfers prior to the 2023-2024 season, and with the scandal in the rear view, attracting talented players was easier. He signed the 17th-best transfer class in the country, according to 247sports, and with a few returners, the outlook for the season didn’t feel as bleak as before.
That was until the NCAA once again became the program’s enemy.
On Nov. 1, LSU announced in a statement that transfer guard Jalen Cook had his waiver for immediate eligibility denied by the NCAA.
His transfer back to LSU was Cook’s second transfer as an undergraduate, meaning NCAA rules would require him to sit out a season before he could compete again.
Without Cook, LSU lost its starting point guard and best scorer. It only took two games to understand just how much his absence hurts.
Fans knew Cook’s absence would be felt eventually. No one expected it to cost LSU a game against Nicholls.
And there lies part of the problem for LSU.
In a program still early in the rebuilding phase, all it takes is one unfortunate circumstance to create a significant roadblock. LSU hasn’t made it far enough into the rebuild yet to overcome losing a player like Cook.
But that’s expected when with a situation like LSU’s. Whether McMahon can turn things around remains to be seen, but his passion should be a refreshing sign for LSU fans.
While spending much of last season as mostly reserved and closed off in front of the media, that has changed. His emotions Friday night reflected the shift in the program from Year 1 to Year 2.
The level of public disappointment McMahon showed after the loss proves that the internal expectations are rising. That’s a baby step in the right direction.
Unfortunately for McMahon, LSU fans expect championships, not baby steps.
