It was a disappointing start to SEC play for the LSU men’s basketball team as they lost their conference opener at home to Vanderbilt 80-72. Cam Carter had 22 points to lead the way for the Tigers and his hot shooting in the second half nearly led to a come from behind victory for the Bayou Bengals.
But Vanderbilt is fourth in the country in steals per game and they forced 15 turnovers, and LSU allowed the Commodores to beat them on the glass.
“The margins of victory for Vanderbilt in this game were the offensive rebounding 17 to 5 and the turnovers 15 to 9 and it’s hard to win when those discrepancies are so large,” LSU men’s basketball coach Matt McMahon said.
It’s also disappointing that one of the smaller teams in the SEC outrebounded LSU 37 to 27.
We knew the season ending injury to six-foot-ten forward Jalen Reed would be difficult to overcome for the Tigers. Reed is LSU’s best big man, and it left them vulnerable on the glass.
LSU was hoping Daimion Collins could pick up the slack, but he was a non-factor on Saturday, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds.
Six-foot-ten Derek Fountain was also a non-factor, playing 97 seconds and not scoring any points or grabbing any rebounds. And six-foot-ten freshman Robert Miller III did not have a great game in his first SEC contest, two points and one rebound in 19 minutes.
Redshirt freshman Corey Chest had a decent showing. The six-foot-eight forward from New Orleans had 12 points and five rebounds, but he needs help down low.
LSU is one of six teams in the SEC not ranked in the AP Top 25 and they were playing another non-ranked team at home. The Tigers were the only SEC team not to win on their home floor on Saturday.
This loss stings for the Tigers, who will play the next four out of five on the road. McMahon says they must move past this loss.
“How you handle adversity, how you handle winning, how you handle losing is obviously going to be critical as we go through this league and the strength of the league this season,” McMahon said.
LSU is at Missouri on Tuesday night. Mizzou also started SEC play with a loss as they fell to 2nd ranked Auburn on the road to 84 to 68.
