Coming off a 68-66 road loss to the Georgia Bulldogs Wednesday night, the LSU men’s basketball team made its way to Tuscaloosa to face the Alabama Crimson Tide. Each team was letting it rain from three on Saturday night but Bama took command and beat the Tigers 109-88, dropping LSU to 11-9 and 3-4 in SEC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Rylan Griffen gave the Tide the early 3-2 lead with the game’s first three after Will Baker’s layup. After that, five straight three-pointers were made by both teams. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Mike Williams III each went back-to-back twice before Aaron Estrada made his first shot from distance. Jalen Cook’s layup cut it to a two-point deficit for the Tigers three minutes into the first half.
LSU tied and took the 18-17 lead as Williams III and Jordan Wright made back-to-back jumpers and Trey Hannibal converted his first of two free throws. Bama then went on a 9-2 run with Jarin Stevenson and Davin Cosby Jr. each hitting from downtown.
Jalen Cook made two threes to even the game at 26 then Hunter Dean made one from the charity stripe over a minute and a half later to give the Tigers the lead.
After a few traded baskets, the game tied at 32, and then the Crimson Tide went on a 9-4 run to go up five with 3:59 left in the first half.
Wrightsell Jr made his fourth three of the half a minute later and then Estrada put the Tide up by eight with 43 seconds left. Derek Fountain’s dunk sent LSU into the locker room down 50-44.
It was back and forth in the first four minutes, including four made shots on four straight possessions. Mark Sears, Baker, and Estrada all made layups, then Baker made a three off the Wright assist in making it 59-53.
After the made shot and timeout by LSU, Alabama went on a 16-5 run over the next five minutes. The run got contributions from Wrightsell Jr. and Griffen, who scored a combined 11 points in the span to give the Tide the 75-58 with 11:11 left in the second half.
Fountain ended the run with a made three-pointer, then, LSU and Alabama going back and forth, trading buckets and free throws for the next four and a half minutes. There were five total made threes, four from LSU’s Cook, Wright, Reed, and Fountain but the Tide were still up by 19.
There were no shots made over the next two minutes due to three total turnovers and a block by Nick Pringle on Hannibal’s layup. Sears and Reed each made a pair of free throws and Pringle’s layup broke the made-basket drought. LSU took a timeout after the shot put them down 21 with 3:30 to go.
It was back and forth the rest of the way as the Tigers couldn’t gain any ground on the Tide and fell 109-88, making LSU’s record 11-9 and 3-4 in SEC play.
BIG NUMBER: 25
Both teams were connecting from distance on Saturday night with 24 shots made (14 from Alabama, 11 from LSU) as the Crimson Tide defeated the Tigers 109-88, dropping Matt McMahon’s squad to 11-9 on the season and 3-4 in conference play.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Latrell Wrightsell Jr
Alabama’s senior guard was lighting it up in the Coleman Coliseum on Saturday night as he scored 19 points on 6-12 shooting (5-10 from three-point range). Wrightsell also had two steals in the win for the Crimson Tide.
UP NEXT: The LSU Tigers men’s basketball team will return to action on February 2nd. Matt McMahon’s team will host the Arkansas Razorbacks and the tipoff in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 7:00 p.m.