LSU loses regular-season finale to No. 22 Texas A&M, 66-52

BATON ROUGE – LSU, after an impressive scoring run in the first half, hit a cold shooting stretch in the second half which allowed No. 21 Texas A&M to rally for a 66-52 win over the Tigers Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Tigers will now head to Nashville on Monday to make final preparations for the SEC Tournament which begins on Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena. LSU will face the No. 10 seed, Mississippi State, at 6 p.m. in the opening game of the night session. The game will be televised on the SEC Network and broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network.

LSU had its offensive going and was able to take the ball away from the Aggies (7 turnovers) and ran off 17 straight points over a 5:23 segment of the first half. The Tigers were down 19-9 with 12:17 to go in the first half when Robert Miller III started the scoring run with a long jump shot.

After a free throw, Cam Carter hit a three-pointer off a turnover to cut the Aggie lead to 19-15. Mike Williams III hit a bucket and a free throw to cut the A&M lead to two, 19-18, with 8:30 to go in the first half. LSU tied and took the on three Jordan Sears free throws at the 7:52 mark (21-19).

The scoring continued for the Tigers as Sears, playing on his fifth-year senior day, scored five more points for LSU on a second chance tip-in and then after an Aggie miss, Sears’ three-pointer put LSU up, 26-19.

LSU would go into the locker room up, 32-30.

But LSU’s shooting touch went away, starting the first 12 minutes of the second half 1-16 from the field, as A&M began to take control on the offensive boards and in the paint, ending the contest up 32-8 in the paint and 17-4 in second chance points.

A 10-0 run broke the game for the Aggies and their biggest lead was 16 points with 7:50 to play in the contest.

Sears, despite rolling his ankle in the second half, was only out for a short time and he scored 21 points in 35 minutes. Sears made 6-of-13 field goals, including three treys and 6-of-7 at the free throw line to go with two assists and three steals.

He was the only LSU player in double figures as Mike Williams III had eight points and Cam Carter seven.

Wade Taylor IV had 17 points to lead Texas A&M, while Henry Coleman III had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Andersson Garcia also had 10 rebounds.

For the game, A&M shot 42.3 percent (22-of-52) with four treys and made 18-of-25 free throws. LSU finished the game at 30 percent (15-of-50) with seven made three-pointers and 15-of-20 at the line.

The Tigers finish the regular season at 14-17 and 3-15 in the Southeastern Conference while Texas A&M goes to 22-9 and 11-7 in the league. The Aggies will be the fifth seed in the SEC Tournament and will not play until Thursday in Nashville.
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Postgame quotes

LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon

Opening Statement…
“Tough Senior Day for us. First half, I thought we were really dialed in on the defensive end of the floor. We were able to force some turnovers. We had six steals. We limited the offensive rebounding and the free-throw line for A&M. Offensively, I thought we did a good job at getting to the line. The game really shifted at the start of the second half. We missed a lay-up at the end of the first and then we struggled to finish some plays in the first five minutes of the second half. A&M really overwhelmed us on the offensive glass during that stretch. They were able to stretch the lead out to 10. The way we struggled to shoot the ball in the second half just made it incredibly difficult for us to get any closer than that for the last 10 minutes of the game.”

On LSU’s struggles in the second half…
“I think it was a combination. I do think we missed some opportunities at the rim early in the half that we were unable to finish. Texas A&M has unique math to how they win. They lead the country in the percentage of shots their opponents take behind the three-point line because when you drive, they all converge on you. They protect the painted area and force you to take threes and we were unable to hit them. In that stretch during the start of the second half, we started out 0-of-8 on some pretty good looks from behind the arc.”

LSU Guard Jordan Sears

On the struggle to get shots to fall…
“I feel like we got the shots we wanted to get. Some of them weren’t always great, but that just comes with the game. I feel like for the most part we got the shots we wanted to get and you know, we just couldn’t knock them down.”

On coming back out after his injury…
“I just wanted to win. I felt like I was having a great game. Kind of working on my ankle in the back a little bit and just playing through it that’s really it. I just wanted to go out there and get a dub for the guys.”

On the Senior Day emotions…
“Yeah, it was a little emotional, but we still have a game to play. Just had to not think about it too much. But just coming out aggressive, trusting in my work, putting my faith in God, my teammates rallying around me, the coaches telling me be aggressive, be you. And it showed in the game. But yeah, it was a little emotional at first because it’s your last time playing in the PMAC.”
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Texas A&M Head Coach Buzz Williams

On the defensive effort from his team today…
“I thought we were really bad in the first half in every possible way. LSU just completely dominated us on the glass, with their energy and their competitive spirit. We turned it over four out of five times in a row. They were demolishing us on the glass; it was the worst we’ve been on the offensive or defensive glass in any half of SEC play (this season). I do think we responded much better in the second half and played more to our recipe. We did a much better job at taking predictable shots and doing a good job on both sides of the glass. The response was better than the stats were in the second half.”

On what defensive changes they made for the second half…
“They were beating us in every category that you would write about or a coach would speak about. They were beating us off the bounce and we fouled more in the first half than any half this season. We were just spinning around and were in rotation constantly. We were not as energetic or committed to what we had to do to beat any team, much less a team that’s playing in some regards differently than we did seven weeks ago (in the first matchup between LSU-Texas A&M). Without being too simplistic, we tried a little harder in the second half, stayed out of rotation and were executing what our plan was initially. It helped that we were not fouling and weren’t in rotation, so we had a chance to get defensive rebounds and that ended up helping our offense.