Welcome everyone to the latest edition of #3OT where I break down what went right and what went wrong for the LSU Tigers! In this edition I look at their 85-73 loss to Texas A&M.
1st OT: The Unusual Suspects
Usually when you talk about good offensive performances it’s about Antonio Blakeney. However, Saturday night belonged to Brandon Sampson who had a great offensive performance with 21 points on the night. His performance was fantastic, but Duop Reath showed a lot of potential with 16 points and 16 boards. The biggest issue with this is that it’s not as much from the other players in this game. There needed to be some kind of a balance of power if they wanted to snap their eight game losing streak.
2nd OT: Failure to Capitalize on Opportunities
The LSU defense looked okay on Saturday, and gave the Tigers somewhat of a chance to win this game. However, the offense wasn’t able to capitalize off of the few turnovers that Texas A&M committed. Of the eight turnovers, LSU scored six points off of them. If they had been able to convert on more of those opportunities, the Tigers could have won this game.
3rd OT: Can LSU Actually Win In Conference?
It’s mindblowing that when you look at Texas A&M’s record, they are two games above .500 all thanks to wins at LSU (Credit to Dave Schultz for bringing that up.) It really poses one question: can LSU win an in-conference before the tournament? Based off of the next couple of weeks, the only game I could see is them beating Ole Miss. If not for that, I find myself dumbfounded that this team cannot even come close to winning a game against a conference opponent. Something needs to happen for LSU basketball and it starts at the top.
-Clint Domingue