LSU men’s basketball’s Achilles’ heel hurt it against No. 11 Vanderbilt as it dropped its third straight SEC game on Saturday, 84-73.
For most of the 2025-26 men’s basketball season, the Tigers have played sluggish defense, but throughout the nonconference season, it only came back to haunt them once.
However, SEC play has been a different story, especially with leading scorer Dedan Thomas Jr. out with a lower-leg injury.
The silver lining to Thomas’ absence is that Max MacKinnon has had a chance to stand out from the rest of the team.
While he has consistently held the team together on the defensive front he has also put up several 3-point shots of his own.
Versus Vanderbilt, the Australia native scored 27 points, going 9-for-16 from the field with three of his shots coming from behind the 3-point line, and he scored 14 more points than the next highest scorer for LSU.
Before LSU entered conference play, head coach Matt McMahon said it was going to need MacKinnon, and every bit of that statement has rang true since conference play started.
“[Max has] been really, really consistent, so we’re going to need him,” McMahon said. “We’re going to continue to count on him for his 3-point shooting, but also his playmaking and decision making on the floor.”
McMahon has said throughout the season that this team just isn’t as strong defensively as it is offensively, and because of that, the players would have to be more solid from the offensive and foundational standpoints.
“I don’t think we’re going to be a team that forces 15 to 18 turnovers a game, so we have to be really fundamentally sound on that end of the floor, and that field goal percentage stat has to carry us,” McMahon said after the Southeastern Louisiana game. “We cannot give up double-digit second-chance opportunities on the defensive glass.”
Since the game versus Southeastern, LSU has lost Thomas due to injury, which has hurt the team on the offensive front.
Thomas averaged 16.2 points so far this season, which led the team. His injury has forced other players stepping up big time to make up the difference, and the Tigers have yet to have something thrown to the wall and stick.
Since SEC play has started, the opposing teams have changed their strategy against the Tigers. Previously, Marquel Sutton and Thomas were opponents main focus, but now that Thomas is out, MacKinnon has taken over the role nicely.
During this tough stretch of games, one thing has remained consistent: LSU is still fighting.
In each game of the losing streak, the Tigers have fought until the buzzer, and the game against the Commodores was no different. Even after trailing for most of the game, there were still efforts to make scrappy plays to try and turn the ball over in their favor.
Nonetheless, LSU couldn’t overcome the shootout with the Commodores, which marked the third straight loss in SEC play.
The Tigers will look to try and break up the losing streak as they take on Kentucky on Wednesday in the PMAC at 6 p.m.
