Turnovers, bad shooting and a pair of controversial calls by the referees led to a tough Southeastern Conference loss for the Tigers Saturday night against the 25th-ranked Gamecocks, 61-55 in Columbia, S.C.
A disputable decision from the referees with two minutes remaining turned the tide in a game where the biggest lead for either team was seven points.
Darrel Mitchell was whistled for a charging foul on a driving layup, a call that bewildered coach John Brady.
Brady, who was crouched on his knees for the play, fell over on his back after the call.
The referee saw Brady on the floor, and despite no words from Brady toward any official, whistled him for a technical foul.
Momentum snowballed for the Gamecocks after the two calls in a game that could have gone either way.
“It was almost comical, the people that were in control of the game, what they did was almost comical,” Brady said in his post-game radio interview. “It seems to me a guy has a job he can’t handle.”
Brady said LSU’s turnovers, which led to easy buckets for the Gamecocks, hurt the Tigers throughout the game. LSU (12-4, 2-3) turned the ball over 23 times, which gave South Carolina (17-2, 4-1) 25 of their 61 points.
“We’re our own worst enemy at times,” Brady said. “When we don’t turn the ball over in stretches, we’re pretty good.”
Despite their offensive miscues, the Tigers had some positives to draw from. They out-rebounded the Gamecocks by 11 and held them under 40 percent from the field.
“Our team played well,” Brady said. “We played well enough to win.”
Coach Brady complimented the play of Jaime Lloreda and Mitchell for their performances, but said the younger players need to step up in crunch time.
Lloreda had a strong outing, putting up 19 points and 16 rebounds. Mitchell finished with 11 points and three steals.
Antonio Hudson and Regis Koundjia struggled offensively. Both fouled out in the second half with a combined 6 points.
The teams traded baskets for 11 lead changes and shared four ties.
South Carolina started the game’s first run, with an 8-0 run half-way into the first half, making the score 23-14, South Carolina.
The Tigers shut down the Gamecock’s offense in the last three minutes of the first half, creating a 7-0 run of their own, narrowing the gap to a halftime score of 29-26, South Carolina.
The Tigers carried their momentum into the opening minutes of the second half, gaining their first lead since early in the game, 32-31.
Both teams stayed close until the last two minutes.
But the Tigers seemed to lose their composure with 2:10 left in the game, with what the radio color man called a “bizarre” technical foul call.
LSU had a two-point lead before the call and trailed by five points with one minute remaining, swinging the entire complexion of the game.
The Tigers return home Wednesday night to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to host Georgia at 7 p.m.