After losing five out of their last six, the LSU Tigers men’s basketball team returned home on Wednesday to host the top-ranked Auburn Tigers in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. A weird set of circumstances gave LSU the early lead and was competitive through the first couple of minutes. Auburn settled in afterward and took over the rest of the way as LSU’s record dropped to 12-8 and 1-6 in SEC Conference Play with the 87-74 loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
One of the oddest starts to a basketball game happened at the PMAC on Wednesday.
Over the first two and a half minutes, Auburn was 0-9 shooting as a team on their first three possessions. The Plainsmen grabbed six offensive rebounds on their first possession before Dylan Cardwell turned the ball over. The second possession featured two more offensive boards by Auburn players and resulted in a steal by LSU’s Dji Bailey. Cardwell took the ball back but Curtis Givens III forced another turnover as Bailey found Cam Carter for the transition two-handed slam.
The Bayou Bengals to that point took a 6-0 lead with Corey Chest scoring on a putback dunk and Carter hitting a deep corner two-pointer off of an inbound pass that caught the visiting Tigers off guard.
Auburn scored their first basket at the 17:14 mark of the first half as Miles Kelly rose for a pullup jumper from the left elbow. The shot sparked a 26-10 run for the Plainsmen over the next 10 minutes. LSU turned the ball over nine times during the run, including losing possession of the basketball three times in less than a minute.
To try and make up for it, Damion Collins and Bailey knocked down a three-pointer while two-sport athlete Trey’Dez Green got into the paint for the easy dunk.
It was back-and-forth for the rest of the first half. About half of LSU’s points in the final seven minutes came from the free-throw line as three players made a pair from the charity stripe while Carter hit a three on the final possession of the half.
The big number in the first half had to be 15, the number of times LSU turned the ball over, and how often Auburn gave themselves a second chance opportunity with an offense rebound. Those two statistics helped paint the picture as to why the Tigers were down 41-29 heading into the locker room.
Neither team could take control of the game throughout the second half. Any time LSU tried to cut into their deficit and make the difference eight points or less, Auburn would come right back with a bucket.
Jordan Sears helped cut it to a three-point game by scoring seven consecutive points for the Tigers. The senior guard made it a 55-50 game with 13:07 to go off of two threes, one of which turned into a four-point play after getting fouled on the shot.
Auburn eventually stretched their lead back out to double digits on multiple occasions. The Tigers gave it one last try to attempt a comeback with a jump shot by Collins but the Plainsmen immediately responded. The top-ranked team in the country grew their lead up to 15 before Carter went for one more dunk late.
LSU lost their eighth game of the season to Auburn 87-74, dropping their conference record to 1-6.
BIG NUMBER: 25
The story of the game was the offensive rebounding numbers for Auburn, who had nine through their first handful of possessions and had 25 by the end of the game. LSU had just 11 offensive boards in the 13-point loss.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Johni Brooke
The senior forward controlled the boards and was the leading scorer in Wednesday’s contest. Broome finished the game with 23 points on 10-23 shooting and grabbed 16 rebounds (11 Offensive) as Auburn took down LSU 87-74, dropping the Tigers’ record to 12-8 and 1-6 in the SEC.
UP NEXT: The LSU Tigers men’s basketball team will stay home this weekend to host the Texas Longhorns. Tipoff in the PMAC is set for 5:00 on Saturday, February 1st and the action can be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette 104.1 Lake Charles.