Will Wade criticizes LSU's inability to close out games

LSU suffered a disappointing defeat at South Carolina on Saturday, falling 77-75. The Tigers led by as many as 14, and held an 11-point lead with just over 13 minutes remaining in regulation. But LSU struggled to close things out down the stretch, missing a lot of free throws and struggling in other areas as well. Head coach Will Wade is not happy with how LSU looked in the final stretch of the game.

“I thought our six-minute game, being solid on defense, making free throws and valuing the ball, I thought it would catch up with us. I was not happy with our six-minute game against Mississippi State and the team kind of thought I was a little bit crazy,” Wade said. “But I mean look, we missed the front end of a critical one and one. We just don’t finish off possessions like we need to and the free throw line and that’s disappointing.

“We’re going to keep working on it, but I’ve never seen a team that goes from – I mean we were shooting it so well early in the year – that now we’re not even just adequate at the free throw line, we’re poor at the free throw line. So we’ve really regressed there and hopefully we can find out footing here before the end of the season.”

South Carolina’s largest lead was just three points, but it was enough for the Gamecocks to escape with the victory. LSU is now 19-8 overall and 7-7 against SEC opponents, while South Carolina is 16-10 overall and 7-7 in SEC play.

Wade: LSU’s poor free throw shooting caught up to the team

As Wade alluded to, LSU seriously struggled on the free throw line. The Tigers made 13 of their 22 shots from the free throw line, making a mere 59.1%. South Carolina, on the other hand, made 17 of their 22 shots from the line.

“Certainly very disappointing,” Wade said after LSU’s loss. “I thought we played decent, we just turned the ball over too much. And then our transition defense wasn’t good enough to win. We just weren’t as sharp in the six minute game. The free throws were the difference. We both shoot 22 free throws, they make 17, we make 13. Four points at the free throw line, we left at the free throw line. It was a huge, huge difference in a tight game like this. So we just didn’t handle ourselves like we needed to and it caught up to us today.”

LSU has four games remaining in the regular season, with matchups against Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and Alabama.