It was a rough start to conference play for LSU Men’s Basketball as Vanderbilt came to the PMAC Saturday afternoon and handed LSU an 80-72 loss, as well as a physical battle to start SEC play.

“It felt like a ‘Welcome to the SEC’,” veteran guard Cam Carter said after the game. “The speed and physicality was different.

The Commodores suffocated LSU for a majority of the game, winning the offensive rebound battle 17-5 and attempting 16 more shots than the Tigers. Vanderbilt also has 40 bench points to LSU’s eight.

Vanderbilt, the nation’s leader in steals per game, showed their defensive chops throughout the game, turning over LSU 15 times, 11 of those coming in the first half, and holding LSU to only five assists.

“We’re going to be better next time for sure,” Carter said of the Tigers.

LSU (11-3, 0-1 SEC) heads to Columbia, Missouri in a battle of the Tigers on Tuesday, as four of the next five games see Matt McMahon’s squad on the road. McMahon’s team will try to prepare themselves for yet another physical SEC team.