LSU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Matt McMahon speaks to the media after suffering a 75-74 buzzer-beating loss against the Kentucky Wildcats.
With LSU coming out the gate offensively and defensively, McMahon expressed how the team has gotten better with starting off strong in the first half
“I thought our physicality returned,” McMahon said. “I thought we really got better as a group and you saw that with the start of the game. The first half, defensive effort by our players, I thought was just phenomenal and we were able to help each other out a lot.”
With the second half being the turning point for the Tigers, McMahon listed what went wrong and how Kentucky clawed their way back.
“In the second half, tremendous credit to Kentucky as they got going from behind the three-point line,” McMahon said. “We could not get enough stops there. All that said, you’re in position to win the game, and unfortunately, I couldn’t help get our guys across the finish line.”
The Kentucky Wildcats bounced back in the second half with center Malachi Moreno hitting the game-winning shot to seal the deal. McMahon praises Moreno for his impact on the court.
“He’s getting better every timeout, which happens with experience,” McMahon said. “But, he has tremendous size for the position. It gives him great rim presence both on the glass and with his shot blocking. We were able to get him in foul trouble, but he’s a great ball stringer right in the middle of the floor and that created some advantages for him there. Just a very skilled, fine man with great size.”
After the performance and effort the team put in against Kentucky, McMahon is crushed that they didn’t get the win tonight, but knows it’s time to focus on Missouri and getting their first SEC win.
“I thought we got better tonight as a team,” McMahon said. “I’m crushed for our players. I’m crushed for our fans, the environment was awesome. Our players laid it on the line. I’m just crushed we didn’t finish the deal, but the only way forward is to build on all those improvements that were made by our team over the last couple of days and get ready to go on Saturday and we got great people in our locker room and they’ll respond the right way and they’ll be ready to go.”
LSU will take on Missouri at home in the PMAC Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
