Now that the college football season is over, LSU fans will be looking for something to sink their teeth into. Baseball season is still several weeks away. The 7th ranked Lady Tigers basketball team has won 15 in a row and very entertaining to watch, but the drama really doesn’t begin until March.
Here’s a chance for Coach Matt McMahon to generate some buzz around this team. They raised a few eyebrows with a road win to open SEC play, a 68-53 victory over Texas A&M.
LSU is back in the PMAC tonight to host Vanderbilt at 8 PM tonight. The Commodores are the only team in the Southeastern Conference with an overall losing record of 5-9.
But McMahon is not taking Vandy lightly.
“When you look at their recent performances, should have won on the road at Memphis, they were terrific in that game, lose by three at home on Saturday to Alabama, they’ve been really playing good basketball and a lot of that has been predicated on their ability from behind the three-point arc in their recent games,” said McMahon.
Overall Vanderbilt is shooting 30% from three-point territory and they are averaging just 69 points a game, the fewest in the SEC.
This is really a game LSU should win.
The Tigers had their struggles early on. They suffered losses to Nicholls, Dayton, Syracuse, Kansas State and Texas.
But McMahon says since mid-December they have been a different team. That’s when Jalen Cook became eligible to play this season thanks to a court ruling after transferring for a second time during his college career.
Cook is the veteran point guard LSU needed. He’s averaging 14 points and nearly 5 assists a game. McMahon says he’s elevated the game of everyone around him.
“The best trait of a player, especially a point guard, is the ability to make everyone else around you better, and I think he’s been able to do that, especially on the offensive end, are assist to turnover ratio, not just his, which is 19-7 through four games, but that of the team,” said McMahon.
McMahon says they are also getting higher quality shots and they are much more efficient on the offensive side of the court.
The 2nd year coach says they’ve also reduced turnovers and improved their rebounding and improved their three-point shooting since December 16th.
LSU is probably not an NCAA Tournament team, but Tiger fans would like to see something from this program that shows it’s heading in the right direction. A 2-0 start in SEC play would be a nice start.
