WATCH: Controversial ending to LSU, Kansas State game takes game-tying buzzer beater off the board
We have controversy in the Cayman Islands Classic.
LSU trailed Kansas State 61-59 with four seconds to go following a Keyontae Johnson go-ahead bucket as the shot clock expired. After four consecutive timeouts (two from each team), LSU inbounded the ball on the final possession, eventually finding guard Trae Hannibal at the top of the key.
After a dribble, Hannibal broke free down the lane for a wide-open layup to tie the game at the buzzer.
The only problem? The clock operator didn’t start the clock on time and after review, the officials waived the shot off and awarded Kansas State the victory.
The win improves Kansas State to 6-0 on the season, while LSU loses its first game and will drop to 5-1 on the year. The Tigers will finish 2-1 in the round-robin tournament, defeating Illinois State and Akron on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
LSU will be in action once again Sunday against Wofford (4-2) in Baton Rouge. Tip is set for 3 p.m. ET live on SECN+ and ESPN+.
Matt McMahon explains rotational decisions so far this season
Matt McMahon started his LSU career with a victory after the Tigers defeated Kansas City74-63 inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center this week. As of now, though, LSU is still trying to gel, which was evident in the box score. 11 Tigers saw playing time and, in the end, McMahon was honest about the fact that it’s because he’s still figuring out his team.
McMahon shared his thoughts on his rotations during his postgame press conference on Wednesday. He said foul trouble did come into play but that his goal is to find his eight guys. In a game like that, he wanted to give all his players a shot at being amongst those eight.
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“I’m most comfortable playing eight guys. It’s what I’ve always done,” McMahon said. “But we had a lot of foul trouble in the first half. There’s also the challenge, and I know we need to quit talking about it, but we’ve got a bunch of new guys. And so (I was) trying to give players opportunities to get on the floor and show what kind of impact they can make. But we’ll continue to work on that in practice and get settled in as we go along.”
McMahon brought three of his former Murray State players with him to Baton Rouge. He also did his best to re-recruit and managed to get a Top-20 class to come play for him. Finally, he had players like Adam Miller and Mwani Wilkinson who elected to remain at LSU through the coaching change. That’s a lot of moving parts to piece together, even with a summer to get the ball rolling.