LSU's comeback falls short in 80-72 loss to Vanderbilt

BATON ROUGE, La. – An 11-2 second-half rally gave LSU a 56-55 lead with 6:34 left to play, but Vanderbilt overcame the threat and walked out of the Maravich Center with an 80-72 victory Saturday afternoon to open SEC play and ends LSU’s three-game winning streak.

LSU dropped its first home contest in the 2024-25 season and moves to 11-3, while Vanderbilt improves to 13-1 and 1-0 in league play, extending its winning streak to seven in a row.

LSU will play four of its next five games on the road, beginning with an 8 p.m. CT contest at Missouri on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

The Tigers shot 50.0 percent from the floor (24-of-48) and 82.6 percent from the free throw line (19-of-23). LSU held the Commodores to a 43.8 clip on 28-of-64 shooting. Vanderbilt knocked down eight 3-pointers in the game and outrebounded LSU 37-27, including a 17-5 margin on the offensive glass and an 18-4 advantage in second-chance points. Vandy forced 15 LSU turnovers that converted into 18 points and dominated in bench scoring, 40-8.  

Cam Carter finished with a game-high 22 points (8-of-17), marking his seventh 20-point performance of the season and second in as many games. Carter was 4-of-11 from 3-point range, matched a season-high three steals, pulled down three rebounds and had one assist. Jordan Sears tacked on 17 points (4-of-11) and was a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. Sears also had two assists and one steal. Corey Chest rounded out LSU’s top scorers with 12 points (4-of-6), led the team with five rebounds and had two assists and two steals.

Vanderbilt had five players finish in double-digit scoring, led by A.J. Hoggard’s 17 points, including 13 points in the second half. When holding off LSU’s run, Hoggard had a stretch, scoring 12 of the Commodore’s 19 points before garbage time set in. Jaylen Carey and MJ Collins had 14 points, Jason Edwards added 12, and Tyler Nickel had 11 and was 3-of-6 from behind the arc.  

LSU scored the game’s first points with a jumper by Daimion Collins, but a 7-2 run by Vanderbilt put the Commodores ahead 11-8. The visiting team led 18-15 at the 11:42 mark, and after another 7-2 scoring run, Vandy led 23-17 with 7:10 remaining in the half, as they held the Tigers scoreless for over four minutes. Collins stopped the drought with a jumper just in front of the free throw line, but LSU turned the ball over on the next two possessions and called a 30-second timeout, with Vanderbilt scoring four points on those turnovers to grab a 27-19 advantage with a little over five minutes left to play in the half.

The Commodores increased their margin to double figures at 32-19 as part of a 9-0 run and went into the half with a 34-27 lead. LSU shot 47.4 percent from the floor (9-of-19) compared to Vanderbilt’s 44.1 percent (15-of-34), but the Tigers turned the ball over 11 times in the opening 20 minutes, and the Commodores capitalized on them by scoring 15 points. LSU only had two points off three Vandy turnovers. Both clubs combined 3-of-18 from 3-point range in the opening half.  

LSU outscored Vanderbilt 10-8 in the first few minutes of the second half, highlighted by six points from Sears to trim the deficit to 42-37 with 15:58 on the clock. Carter buried a triple from the wing to pull LSU within two points at 42-40, but Edwards answered with a 3-pointer of his own, sparking a quick five unanswered points to put the Commodores back up, 47-40. Carter dropped another trey ball, and Curtis Givens III’s layup cut Vandy’s lead to 47-45, but a second-chance 3-pointer by Nickel brought the score to 50-45, which was the lead by the 11:25 media timeout. The Commodores pushed their margin back to eight at 53-45, but the Tigers responded with an overall 10-2 run, featuring six unanswered points and capped by a 3-pointer from Carter to tie the game at 55, forcing a Vanderbilt timeout with 8:13 on the game clock.

A free throw by Dji Bailey gave LSU a 56-55 lead, its first since 16:47 in the first half, but a 6-0 burst by Vanderbilt, highlighted by a four-point possession, all scored by Hoggard, put the visitors back on top 61-56. Hoggard went in take-over mode, scoring Vanderbilt’s following five points for a 66-59 advantage, and although LSU had another push to make it a one-possession game at 66-63, Carey and Hoggard completed three-point plays for Vanderbilt to make the score 72-65 with 2:01 left in the game. LSU got as close as five points down the stretch, but Vanderbilt pushed the lead back to 11 with 27 seconds left.

*LSU press release
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Postgame quotes

LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon

Opening Statement…
“I want to start by giving tremendous credit to Vanderbilt. Coming in, we knew their ability to force turnovers was number one in the country, leading the country in steals. Their pressure really bothered us, the physicality in the first half. We had a lot of empty trips there with 11 first-half turnovers. I thought in the second half, we played much stronger with the ball. Offensively, we were able to get down hill and get to the rim and finish plays. We took the lead there on the run. When you look at the overall pace of the game, they attempted 16 more shots than we did. You can look at the turnover margins and their ability on the offensive glass with 17 rebounds. It led to a huge discrepancy. We shot 50% from the floor and 83% from the free throw line. That should be good enough to win, but they won the field-goal attempt battle. I thought number 11, A.J. Hoggard, his shot making in winning time was terrific.”

On what LSU can learn from first half…
“The overall ball-security. Some of it was poor decision making, driving into a lot of traffic, but that’s what Vanderbilt does. They do a good job gapping spin-dribbles and turning you over. We got caught up in the air a couple times and threw passes away. They made us pay; that’s part of the reason they had 26 points in the paint in the first half. In the second half, we did a better job limiting that with less turnovers. Certainly their physicality and defensive pressure really bothered us I the first half.”

Cam Carter
On the change made for “crunch time minutes” …
“I mean, I feel like in the first half we had our ‘welcome to the SEC moment’ for all of us. You know, in the second half, I feel like we woke up and we were able to run our actions, you know, and we were a lot tougher on offense and defense.”

On what was the “welcome to the SEC moment” …
“Just the bumps, the toughness, the flow of the game. I feel like, you know, they were a disciplined team. They were aggressive and they threw the first punch.”

On what you can take from the first half going forward…
“The same way we came out in the second half is the same way we have to come out in the first half. All season we haven’t really put two halves together. We have to do a better job of that. We’re in the SEC now, so, you got to learn from every game. Like I said, it’s a learning experience for us. It’s something that we knew all season, but if we want to be a good team and at the top of the SEC, we have to be better.”

Jordan Sears
On Vanderbilt’s defense forcing turnovers…
“They’re just very, very pesky. Like Cam [Carter] said, just the little bumps and stuff like that will knock you off balance and throw your game off a little bit. I don’t think it’s anything too crazy. We can learn from it, of course. Just us being stronger with the ball, myself included, starting with me. Yeah, just how pesky they are, the little bumps here and there kind of causing them to get a couple turnovers here and there.”
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Vanderbilt Head Coach Mark Byington
Opening Statement …
“Welcome to SEC play, that was a heck of a game. I thought we had a tremendous defense in the first half, we did a good job there, and kept them out of transition, did a great job on the boards. I give them (LSU) a lot of credit, they fought back and they made a really tough game down the stretch. We had a lot of guys step up throughout the game. (Guard) AJ Hoggard, the plays he made, that is not coaching, that is a really good player making some plays there that were good for our team. We did just enough. I thought we took care of the ball at the end and got just enough stops. Obviously, I am only one game into the SEC, I know it is going to be hard and difficult, but at the same time, I know to appreciate road wins.”

On the first SEC game of the year …
“It is only our second true road game, we played at Virginia Tech and we played here (LSU). I wanted to see how we responded. I thought we were really focused and excited to have the challenge. Our guys were actually excited that non-conference play was over with. Everyone talks about the league, and we just wanted to see where we are. Today was good enough. We know there are challenges every single night. I know that we are not going to look at the schedule on any single night and say there is an easy game, there is not any more out there. We learned a lot about ourselves and it is something to keep building on.”