Matt McMahon downplays familiarity with North Texas

The LSU Tigers and North Texas Mean Green are set to tip off the NIT against one another on Tuesday night in Baton Rouge. It’s the second time these two will play this season, something that LSU head coach Matt McMahon downplayed.

As he explained, both of these teams have changed and grown a lot over the course of the season.

“I’m not sure how much the familiarity helps with this one,” Matt McMahon said. “I believe it’s been 125 days since we played. I think we’re a lot different team from that game. Personnel, rotation is a little different. Style of play has certainly evolved since the season has gone along.”

In their first meeting, LSU won a close game against North Texas by a score of 66-62. That was also a home game for the Tigers. Both teams had double-digit turnovers in that game, with North Texas even out-rebounding LSU. The biggest difference, however, was LSU shot 50% from the field in that game compared to 31.7% from North Texas.

LSU ended the season with a 17-15 record, but did win five of their last seven regular season games. Meanwhile, North Texas went 18-14 this season, its first in the AAC. The Mean Green won three of their final four regular season games. Both teams lost their most recent game played, in their respective conference tournaments.

“Unfortunately, I think they’re an a lot better team as well from when we played them back in November. But I think there probably is a good thing for our players having gone through that game,” McMahon said.

“They have immediate respect for the opponent because they know how tough and physical and aggressively they play, how disruptive they are on the defensive end of the floor, their ability to — they hit 12 threes in that game in the first matchup against us. So, I do think there’s some benefits to that familiarity from the first matchup.”

This isn’t the first time Matt McMahon has had to prepare LSU to play a team for a second time this season. Previously, the Tigers played Texas A&M, Alabama, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and Mississippi State. In those second meetings, LSU went 2-4 after the Tigers went 3-3 the first time they played those opponents.

LSU and North Texas tip off at 7:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, March 19th. The winner will advance to play the winner of the Seton Hall and Saint Joseph’s game.