What they said: LSU MBB after loss to Texas A&M

LSU dropped its second conference game of the season on Saturday evening, this time at home against Texas A&M 73-69.

After getting outrebounded 48-34 and outscored in second chance points 27-0, there was plenty to talk about. Here’s what head coach Matt McMahon and two of his players said after the game.

LSU head coach Matt McMahon

Opening statement…  

“Hard fought college basketball game. Great credit to Texas A&M for doing the things they needed to do to get the win. Obviously, they flipped the script on us from the first matchup where we were 18-to-three in second-chance points in our favor. Today, 27-to-zero was obviously the difference in the game. If you look at our defensive effort, I thought our energy and effort, all of that was great. Probably held them in their first shot of possession somewhere around 29-30% from the floor, but could not finish the possessions with rebounds, especially there in the second half. We have been able to turn people over averaging 10 steals a game; we only had one today. We did not turn it over a lot, but we were only able to force six there. Credit to them for getting the win here today.”

On what makes Texas A&M good on the boards… 

“I would say it starts with relentless effort. I am sure it is emphasized every day in everything they do. They seemed, to me at least, to be at peace that their shooting percentages are not where most teams would want and sell out to taking care of the ball and getting after it on the offensive glass. I am sure there is some sort of philosophy there in how they do it, but at the end of the day you have to have some junkyard dogs who are going to chase the ball, and that is what they did today.” 

On defending Wade Taylor…

“First of all, I would say a big key was that while he was out in the first half, they had some guys who had not shot the ball well this year step forward and hit some big shots. That enabled them to hang around, so credit to those guys in the first half. Then in the second half, you know he’s going to get going at some point. 6-of-17 is not bad from a defensive standpoint, but when he did take some of those tough shots, we weren’t able to finish possessions with a boxout. He’s a really good player.”

LSU guard Jordan Wright

On the final shot with 12 seconds left…

“We were trying to come off a screen and get a corner three there, but they kind of zoned it up on us. I mean, took it away. We tried to get to our second option. I could’ve driven it to the left, which would’ve been a flare on the other side. They did a really good job guarding it; hats off to them. They played their defense well and they guarded it well. We had to get a shot up there, and it’s a shot I’ve seen [Jalen] Cook make.” 

On the student section and environment’s impact on the team’s morale..

“Yeah, it was great. The students really showed out tonight, again, for the second game in a row. They brought us energy, especially late. When I made that three in the corner, the gym really came alive, or when we came down, Tyrell [Ward] made that big bucket to tie it up 67-67. They were really there; they really supported us tonight. The gym was extremely loud, the loudest game we’ve had. So, hats off to the students, thank you guys for coming out. But yeah, it was great for us. They gave us some momentum, helped push the energy back in our favor a couple of times late there in the game. We ultimately couldn’t pull it out, but they were huge for us.”

On what Texas A&M changed in the final three minutes to stop LSU…

“Honestly, I think it was lack of poise on our end. I took a bad shot early in the clock when I didn’t need to. Jalen [Cook] came down, took an early one. I think as older guards, older players on this team, we have to do a better job of making sure we execute our entire set. We didn’t even allow them to run the clock. We didn’t let our play develop. We just took two early shots in the clock. So, I wouldn’t necessarily say they play defense better, I just think we have to have better poise there as older guys. As a fifth-year guy, I have to be better down the stretch there, get us into position and ultimately pick my spots better: when to attack and when to get off the ball there.”

LSU forward Jalen Reed

On if the rebound disparity comes down to effort…

“Rebounding is more about effort and toughness than it is technique, skill or anything like that. So, give A&M the credit. They came in here and rebounded really well. I felt like in the second half we didn’t have an answer for them, chasing down 50-50 balls and things like that. But, we’ll be back in the gym this week and get that all fixed up so this doesn’t happen again.” 

On what led to the rebounding disparity this time since LSU won that battle in the previous meeting…

“They crashed really hard. They sent a lot of people to the glass, and I mean, I wish I had. I felt like we were boxing out, but they just beat us on the 50/50 balls and on the rebounding today.”

On battling the effect of losing in second-chance points…

“I mean, we’ve just got to get back to work to make sure this doesn’t happen again. We can’t win if we let the other team get 27 second-chance points and we get zero. That isn’t a good representation of who we are as a team and what we do. Usually it’s us getting to the offensive rebounds, and we didn’t really get to the boards as well this game.” 

On Texas A&M’s change in physicality from the first meeting to the second half today…

“Right. I don’t really feel like there was much of a difference between the first time and the second time, in terms of how they were crashing. But tonight, we just weren’t getting them. I really wish I had an answer for why. We were boxing out, but there were just a lot of bodies in there. The ball was flying around, they were tipping it out, so it was really difficult to get a hold of the ball today.”