Matt McMahon speaks on growth of Tyrell Ward, Jalen Reed

It’s been a long, trying season for the LSU men’s basketball team in the first season under head coach Matt McMahon. But there has been reason for optimism going forward into next year for the Tigers, in the form of burgeoning freshmen Tyrell Ward and Jalen Reed.

After LSU beat Vanderbilt on Wednesday night — the first win for LSU since Dec. 28 — McMahon had good things to say about each of the freshmen.

“I thought Tyrell, his shooting of the basketball. We ran him off a double stagger, you saw his shot preparation was terrific. Caught it right there in the pocket, stepped up and blasted that. I think just his length, he’s continuing to learn on the defensive end of the floor. But 3-for-3 from the field, eight points,” McMahon said. “And then Jalen, we thought we could drive the ball, drive the ball there at the four spot. And thought he was really effective getting by off the bounce on some of those slot drives out front.”

As McMahon noted, Ward went 3-for-3 against the Commodores, including a pair of 3s. Reed managed to score eight points in 15 minutes, himself, but did foul out, too.

It was by no means either players best performance of the season. But it’s steady building blocks for the two freshmen and an LSU team with plenty of room to grow.

Matt McMahon breaks down LSU’s defense vs. Vanderbilt

LSU finally won their first game of the calendar year, snapping their 14-game SEC losing streak by nipping Vanderbilt at home after the Commodores had played some of their best basketball of the season prior to this week’s trip to Baton Rouge. The Tigers did so by putting on their highest-scoring performance of the conference slate, surpassing 80 points against a power five foe for the first time this season en route to an 84-77 victory. Besides the obvious uptick on offense, it was the defensive end where head coach Matt McMahon was most impressed.

Vanderbilt entered the LSU game on a hot streak, having won five in a row while posting the No. 11 offense in the country in the month of February, according to Bart Torvik’s metrics. Say what you will about Jerry Stackhouse’s tenure in Nashville, but the dude knows how to design an offensive set. Now that he had big man and leading scorer Liam Robbins back in the fold, Vandy was legitimately playing some of the best hoops in the SEC.

So no, LSU didn’t catch a break against an SEC bottom-feeder. The ‘Dores may seem as such on paper, but in conference play, they’re an above-.500 unit. After the game, Coach McMahon was asked: how exactly did his guys hold Vanderbilt under 80 to secure their second conference victory?

His answer:

“Well in the first half I loved our two-point defense. And they were 4-15 from two in the first half. There were a couple opportunities where we would like to have run them off the three-point line in the first half, but we were unable to do so. (Tyrin) Lawrence hit a couple, Robbins hit a couple.”

Vandy got loose for a few triples, but that tends to happen in most of their games. However, when perimeter defense was tightened up in the second half, the Commodores looked to attack the basket more, but were stifled just enough by the Tigers to ultimately fall short.

“The second half they hurt us some with the dribble drive and we let them get to the rim for layups, which has bothered us at times this year. And, you know, thankfully they missed a few free throws as well. But I just thought we played extremely hard. I thought we played with more discipline on the defensive end to do what we’re supposed to do when we’re supposed to do it. And just overall, really locked in on those things.”

Far from a perfect defensive performance for LSU, but credit the Tigers for hanging in there and coming up tough in the deciding moments to limit Vanderbilt from getting the looks they wanted down the stretch.