Matt McMahon: LSU continues to improve despite results

Things have gotten off the rails for LSU during the SEC portion of their season. Matt McMahon is learning through adversity on the fly as the Tigers sit at 1-9 in conference play. However, although they’ve lost 10 straight, he still says things are moving in the right direction even though it isn’t showing up yet in their record.

McMahon applauded LSU’s growth following their latest 79-69 loss to Alabama on Saturday. He thinks their fight and effort throughout everything they do during the week is where it needs to be. From here, it’s all about waiting for those changes to pay off by staying consistent with them.

“I think playing hard and competing with a relentless effort was the first part. A mindset to do whatever you have to to help your team win is the price of admission,” said McMahon. “That’s why you’re here. And I think we’ve made strides in that area after the first eight SEC games. And kind of had a reset to try to make improvements so we can get back to the win column.”

“As I look to the last 10 days from practice habits, from preparation, from on-court performance? There has been improvement. And that’ll give us a chance if we’ll stay the course and keep working to get better in those areas,” McMahon said. “That has to be the mindset moving forward but it doesn’t happen overnight. But I think we’ve made improvements in some areas.”

LSU hasn’t seen one go in the win column since the turn of the new year with the last victory coming to Arkansas in their conference opener on December 28th. Since then, their skid has reached double digits with the average margin of loss reaching 15.4 points. Competition has a lot to do with it as they’ve only played the Top-8 teams in the SEC. Still, it’s been over a month since they’ve been close in a contest.

Still, McMahon is still preaching patience as his team continues to work through this run. He says they’re reaching the point where they can give themselves a chance which, with this upcoming stretch, they’ll need to capitalize on and fight through that they sit at just 12-11 on the season.

“Obviously this is a very difficult stretch. We went through a stretch there where we really didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to win against some of the best teams in the country,” said McMahon. “There’s still a long way to go. But I think, again, you have to stay focused on that when you’re in a situation like this. You have to keep stacking days of doing things the right way, being about the right things, putting in the work. And keep getting better to give ourselves an opportunity to win. As you enter this last month of the season, the choice is lay down and keep taking these losses or fight, battle, stay the course, and find ways to get better and come together to win a game. We’re taking the latter approach and we’ll stay focused on that.”