By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY: The lights are out on LSU’s postseason chances.
In a historically good SEC, LSU doesn’t stack up. There’s proof in losses to Texas, Missouri and Vanderbilt. Saturday night, the Tigers lost to a previously 3-5 Texas team, 89-58.
LSU has flaws that they just can’t overcome, and Saturday night’s second half was a beatdown. Texas outscored LSU 58-33 after halftime.
The turnover problem is devastating, and the three-point shooting is awful.
Saturday wasn’t some blitzkrieg or statistical outlier. It was a solid, if unspectacular, Texas team grinding LSU to dust. The Tigers just never felt competitive from the middle of the game onward. In the second half, it felt like the Longhorns just toyed with the Tigers.
The last time the game felt in the balance was the 16 minute mark of the second half. Cam Carter went slashing toward the bucket and missed a rim shot that would have cut the lead to six. Texas grabbed the rebound and took it other way for a bucket to make it 10.
Texas scored eight more in a row to push the lead to 18, and that was it.
LSU spent the rest of the second half more than 20 points behind a 3-5 SEC team. Then it got to 30. Vegas set the line at 1.5 in favor of Texas.
There’s just not much more to say or type.
LSU is 1-7 in SEC play and optimism feels unfounded at best and silly at worst. An early flurry of top 20 SEC opponents put LSU on the ropes. Texas knocked the Tigers out. LSU will struggle to draw fans and-or win games the rest of the way.
THE STATS: LSU was 2-for-15 from three. That’s 13 percent.
Cam Carter was held quiet. He was 2-for-7 from the floor and 0-for-2 from three. LSU can’t function on offense without more from him.
Texas shot 56 percent from the floor, 69 percent in the second half. The Horns finished 10-for-21 from three. That’s 48 percent.
LSU turned the ball over 15 times which led to 18 points.
LSU’s the 31-point home loss to an unranked opponent was its largest since December 6, 1966. They lost by 36 to Texas that day.
None of LSU’s starters scored more than six points.
Two of LSU’s players had an offensive rebound. LSU missed 27 shots.
LSU only turned Texas over seven times.
