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Like Pod Katt mentioned in the Gamethread before this, there’s not much left to say about this team that hasn’t already been said. Not only did the Red Raiders tie their season high for 3 pointers in the first half (10), they would go on to have four players finish with 10+ points. Their offense actually went pretty cold in the second half, settling for 12 total three pointers. Every team on our schedule has taken notice to what it takes to beat LSU, and that’s setting up easy 3’s and letting ‘em rip.
The Tigers’ record is now a lowly 9-11 (1-7 in SEC) with no real sign of improvement. It would honestly take an epic collapse of an opponent to win a game at this point. We’ve been through this already game after game. They’re not destroying LSU on the boards, in the turnovers battle, or down-to-the-wire bad luck. It’s just effort, or a lack thereof. It’s continuously leaving their guards wide open in a corner after two passes, it’s total confusion and lack of communication on both sides of the ball (looking at you, Skylar Mays throwing to a Red Raider on the bench with his arms up), it’s having their asses kicked and not being willing or poised enough to kick back.
I like to talk about the positives, too. Antonio Blakeney had himself a pretty good offensive performance despite the crowd giving him hell for an air ball in the first few minutes, leading the Tigers with 23 points and recording 5 rebounds with 2 assists. Duop Reath completed another double-double, scoring 12 and snagging 11 rebounds. His issue of too many turnovers (4), however, put a stain on his otherwise solid performance. Wayde Sims also recorded 10 points, and he’s looking more comfortable in the paint against taller competition with every game. Unfortunately a stagnant offense has kept him from truly breaking out to be the primary focus of scoring, a role I can see him settling into nicely in the next few years.
Look, until this team can really turn something around and do something crazy like make a game close or God forbid actually win a game, I’m just gonna cut this short because I’m getting very very tired of repeating myself with what is so obviously wrong with the team and what refuses to be fixed. Let me sum it up here and you can just copy and paste this message until we stop losing by 10+ points: this team is terrible at defense and has neither the resources nor the coaching to improve.
If you still have the stomach to watch the remaining ten games, LSU returns to the PMAC Wednesday night at 8pm to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks (a very good team). That contest will be televised on the SEC Network.