LSU wins triple overtime thriller against UCF, 109-102

LSU stormed back from an 18 point deficit with 13 minutes left in regulation to win 109-102 in a triple-overtime thriller on Sunday evening against UCF in West Virginia. It was the Tigers’ second game of the Greenbriar Classic Tournament and the win moves Matt McMahon’s team to 5-1 on the season and now 2-0 against Big 12 teams this year with neither win coming at home.

LSU’s offense struggled mightily in the first half, shooting 25 percent from the field and totaling 25 points, resulting in a 15-point deficit heading to the break. LSU did not look much better for the first few minutes of the second half as UCF actually extended its lead up to 18 before LSU began its comeback. It was a complete team effort as Jordan Sears, Corey Chest, Vyctorious Miller, and Jalen Reed all pitched in on both sides as LSU tied the game at 70 to send the contest to overtime No. 1. Chest fouled out, forcing McMahon to get creative and turn to his depth.

From there, chaos ensued as the two teams went back and forth, both with opportunities to pull away, but LSU in particular had a four point lead with 29 seconds left in the first overtime but squandered the lead as it was an 82-82 game heading to overtime No. 2. The second and third overtimes were more of the same shotmaking and physicality before LSU pulled away with its defense and got the seven-point win.

LSU head coach Matt McMahon quotes

Overall thoughts…

“That’s a first for me. A lot of free basketball here today, Just really proud of our guys’ resilience. If you would have told me in the first half that we end up scoring 109 points, I would have lost everything I own, because we could not score to save our life. A lot of big plays. I feel like we just played three games in one. I can go through each player and the big time things they did. We talk about the ebbs and flows and ups and downs and our guys did a good job going to the next play. One huge play to even have a chance was at 70-68 and they had the ball to end regulation and we trap and Corey gets a steal and we go down and get fouled and make free throws to get it to overtime.”

On the offensive improvements…

“I know we were shooting 25 percent, but I liked a lot of the looks. I thought we were at the rum and we just didn’t finish some plays. Then we went over some opportunities where once we got to the rim, we needed to kick it out and guys did a nice job with that in the second half and overtime and shooters stepped up and hit them.”

On Jordan Sears…

“He hit some big shots. He had the and-one there. He hit six threes and had nine rebounds. Homemade a lot of clutch plays down the stretch and he was battling through some foul trouble and then played 35 straight minutes and played at a high level.”

Getting in the bonus and to the free throw line late…

“It was a big key. We talked about it in the timeout, ‘I know we’re down 18 and we’re struggling, but we’re in the bonus the rest of the way. Let’s make it an ugly game, let’s make them take contested shots and do the job on the glass, but then let’s put our head down and put pressure on their defense and get to the free throw line. Our guys did a great job executing, then both teams shot the ball at a high level in the overtime periods.”

On overcoming adversity…

“I told them when we got down that we are going to find out a lot about who we are and who we want to become. The players deserve all the credit and kept making the next play. In the overtime periods we shoot 57 percent from the floor and 40 percent from three and hold them to 34 percent from the field and do just enough to get over the hump.”