After finishing last in the SEC a year ago, Matt McMahon’s LSU Tigers team hosted an NIT matchup on Tuesday night against the defending tournament champions, the Mean Green of North Texas.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
LSU opened the game scoring the first five points before entering a back-and-forth affair with the defending tournament champions. At the first media timeout with 14:51 remaining, the Tigers led North Texas 9-7. So far, four of the five LSU starters have scored.
LSU continued to shoot the ball well early in this one, shooting 75% from beyond the arc. Jordan Wright led the way with five as the Tigers led North Texas 15-11 with 11:01 remaining in the first half.
With 7:16 to go in the first half, North Texas started to heat up from deep and tied the game at 20-20 behind a game-high eight points from CJ Noland.
During the next five minutes, North Texas outscored LSU 18-7 to take a 38-27 lead with 2:20 left in the first half. Rubin Jones led with 12 points on 4-5 shooting including a pair of 3s.
At halftime, North Texas had a 38-31 lead over LSU in the first round of the 2024 NIT. Similarly to the first meeting, it was a back-and-forth first half inside the PMAC.
With 16:11 left to go in the game, LSU and North Texas opened the second half with a slugfest as the Mean Green led 45-40. Rubin Jones continued to lead North Texas with 12 while Trae Hannibal paced the Tigers with 11.
Over the next three minutes, North Texas continued to shoot the ball well, going on an 11-2 run to end that stretch with a 58-45 lead into the next media timeout with 13:13 remaining in the game.
North Texas continued to space themselves from the Tigers, but a pair of three-pointers from Jordan Wright closed the gap to 12 and LSU a boost of energy heading into the under-8 media timeout with 7:16 to go.
LSU came alive in the final minutes, implementing a full-court press and relying on the ability of their scorers to cut the North Texas lead to five with 50.8 seconds remaining. Wright has been incredible in what could be his final game for LSU with 25 points on 9-14 shooting.
LSU had an opportunity to make magic in the closing seconds, but the shots couldn’t fall as the Tigers fall to North Texas 84-77 in the first round of the NIT.
BIG NUMBER: 18
Jordan Wright scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half to try and keep LSU in the game, but North Texas was able to hang on for the win.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jordan Wright
In a losing effort, Wright kept the Tigers in the game with 25 points, 18 of them coming in the second half.