PALMER: Defense will doom LSU

By Hunt Palmer

They keep score for a reason.

Ultimately, the scoreboard tells you who a team is. LSU’s ledger reads 1-6 in SEC play with 11 to play. That means without at least a 7-4 finish, this team won’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Verge Ausberry already told you what that means.

Of his four seasons, this is Matt McMahon’s most equitable shot. He got some funding and shopped for a roster. The offense he built is good enough to win games.

The Tigers are scoring 72 points per game in league play and absolutely torched SMU and DePaul who are holding their own in the ACC and Big East. LSU ranks 29th nationally in offensive efficiency and 27th in shooting percentage.

DJ Thomas is a high-level point guard, and Max Mackinnon’s scoring has translated from the WCC to the SEC. He’s averaging 17.4 points per game in league play. Marquel Sutton has rediscovered his offensive groove. Pablo Tamba didn’t miss from the floor on Saturday.

None of that matters because the defense is atrocious. And it’s why LSU can’t win games.

College basketball teams rarely hang 100 in a league game. It’s a 40-minute game, and the shot makers aren’t nearly as skilled as the NBA. Still, LSU manages to give up half a hundred in a half on a weekly basis.

LSU has allowed an opponent to score 50 in a 20-minute half six times in the last 12 games. Texas Tech did it behind a blistering early effort from the three-point line. Unthinkably, Prairie View A&M did the same thing two weeks later making 12 threes in the first stanza. The Panthers rank 202nd nationally in three-point shooting. They scored 90 on LSU and haven’t hit that number since.

South Carolina ripped the Maravich center nets for 50 first half points and got a career high from Elijah Strong to notch their only non-home victory of the season. Vanderbilt cruised to 52 points before intermission to beat the Tigers.

Four days later, LSU actually showed up defensively and held Kentucky’s high-flying offense to 22 before halftime. Mark Pope’s team dropped 53 on the Tigers in the last 20 minutes, the final two coming as the buzzer sounded to fully erase what was an 18-point lead and escape Baton Rouge with a win.

The latest defensive disaster was Saturday evening when Arkansas scored 52 after halftime. LSU led by eight in the second half. The defense couldn’t make it stand up.

The loss of Thomas for five games was significant. He’s the engine that runs the offense, and he’ll be that moving forward. His absence doesn’t excuse the abysmal defense this team plays most nights. And that’s why they’re where they are.

The season and program hang in the balance this week as LSU plays a pair of 2-5 SEC teams in Mississippi State and South Carolina. Without a pair of wins, the math for LSU to right the ship just doesn’t add up. Road games at Texas, Tennessee Ole Miss and Auburn will be tough, and Alabama comes to the Maravich Center. That’s no picnic.

This team isn’t non-competitive or bad. It is flawed. And that flaw is likely fatal.

LSU played straight up with Texas A&M, Kentucky and Arkansas. Those three are currently in the top four of the league standings.

But competitive doesn’t matter. It’s about wins and losses, and the losses are stacking up.

That’s hard to defend.