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The LSU Tigers failed their first road test of the season, falling by 19 points to the surprisingly good Boise State Broncos. Going into the game, I really thought the game would be much closer and that LSU would be able to pull out a win. Instead, it was an implosion by the LSU team. Fundamental breakdowns on both offense and defense did in the Tigers.
To start, LSU was unable to capitalize on their size advantage and were out rebounded by 17. Part of the reason might have been because of the abundance of long shots(48 total threes taken by both teams), and part of the reason could have been because of foul trouble. LSU was charged 26 total fouls, and Johnny O'Bryant fouled out after only playing 22 minutes. Sadly, fouling out may have helped the Tigers somewhat, as JOB was having a hard time keeping the ball and he finished with 6 turnovers.
Offensively, LSU was relying far too heavily on the outside shot, something that has been troublesome in years past. Though Corban Collins had a breakout game, finishing with 19 points on 5-8 shooting from long range, the rest of the team went a combined 5-21. Anthony Hickey did get into the game, but finished with only 3 points. Andre Stringer had a classic bad game, going 1-10 on the night.
Luckily for LSU, it was an equally bad weekend for the rest of the SEC. Fellow undefeated Florida lost a heart breaker to Arizona in the final seconds, Texas AM lost a dud on the road to Oklahoma, Alabama got beat up worse by VCU, and Mississippi State continues to free fall after a loss to the Loyola in Illinois. Normally I think that the conference losing hurts LSU, but in this case, I think it helps because it shows that the Tigers can compete in the conference because of how vulnerable it is right now. While LSU will want good computer numbers, winning still needs to happen so I'm OK with the conference dropping a few games so LSU can stay in the race.
LSU will look to avenge this loss Tuesday night when they return a game to the Anteaters of UC- Irvine. Although they aren't nearly as good as Boise is, it's a classic trap game for the Tigers. Irvine has already taken UCLA to the brink before falling by a point in overtime, while upsetting Nevada in the opening game of the year.