Recap: Late run pushes No. 4 Alabama past LSU, 80-73

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The LSU Tigers showed a determination and effort that gave them every chance to stay with the No. 4/3 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday night at Coleman Coliseum before falling by a score of 80-73.

Alabama outscored the Tigers 50-43 in the second half of play to get the victory to improve to 17-3 and 5-1 in the SEC. LSU dropped to 12-7 and 1-5 in the league.

Jordan Sears led LSU with 21 points with six assists on 7-of-14 shooting with one trey and 6-of-6 from the free throw line. Sears has made all 28 free throws in SEC play this season.

Cam Carter had 17 points with Corey Chest scoring 12 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, with Daimion Collins adding 10 points. Chest’s 18 rebounds was the most since Darius Days had 18 against Louisiana Tech on Dec. 18, 2021.

Aden Holloway led Alabama with 19 points, while Mouhamed Dioubate added 14, Chris Youngblood 13, Grant Nelson 12 and Labaron Philon 11.

LSU was only able to shoot 39.4 percent from the field and 3-of-23 from three-point range, including just 1-of-11 in the final 20 minutes. LSU was 28-of-71 overall and 14-of-19 from the free throw line.

After shooting 50 percent in the first half, Alabama finished the game at 44.3 percent (27-of-61) with seven made three pointers and 19-of-24 at the free throw line.

For the second-straight road game, the Tigers found themselves tied after 20 minutes. After a half in which the Tigers – despite being outshot from the field – were able to turn around an SEC-game trend of points off turnovers, getting 13 points off eight Alabama turnovers compared to just five for Alabama off LSU’s six turnovers.

The Tigers had opportunities with 13 offensive rebounds which resulted in 10 points. They shot 39 percent in the first half (15-of-38), but just 2-of-14 from distance. Alabama shot 50 percent in the first half (13-of-26) and 4-of-12 from deep. Alabama was 10-of-13 at the free throw line with LSU 8-of-10. LSU out rebounded the Tide, 23-17, with Chest getting 15 boards in the first half.

The Tigers ended up out-rebounding Alabama, 43-41, with 17 offensive rebounds and a 14-11 advantage in second chance points. LSU finished the game up 17-11 in points off turnovers.

The first half featured eight lead changes and seven ties in a game that ended with 13 lead changes and eight ties.

The Tigers had two one-point leads in the second half, at 48-47 on a Carter driving layup with 16:22 to play, and then at 50-49 with 15:23 to go in the game on a dunk off a Carter pass.

But Alabama would come back to score the next four points, one bucket off a turnover and never trailed again, getting as much as a 13-point lead with 2:09 to play.

The Tigers continued fighting late in the game with Sears making three free throws, two Carter free throws and a Collins layup that cut the Alabama lead to 77-71 with 1:05 to play. LSU would get it to five at 78-73 on a Sears bucket with 39 seconds left, but the Tigers could not get any more points as Alabama was able to finish out the clock.

LSU will be back in action on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. CT as No. 1 Auburn comes to town. Auburn defeated Tennessee on Saturday night, 53-51.

Head Coach Matt McMahon

Post-game quotes
LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon

On the effort shown throughout the game…
“Disappointed with the result, but I definitely think we got better as a team. I really liked our preparation and the mindset. I thought our guys came in here to compete and came to get into the fight. Loved the physicality that we played with in the first half. Corey [Chest], you know, obviously set the tone there. That’s as good a rebounding performance I’ve seen in a half of basketball in my time doing it. So, I think there’s a lot to learn and take away from it, but then also, you know, players we have to learn as a team, you know, the value and importance of execution. You’re right there in a 1 possession game and we’re 3 of 23 from three. We shot 39% from the floor for the game, but I thought because we did a better job controlling tempo and defensively we competed at a high level, we were able to hang around.”

On what went well and where to improve next…
“We forced some turnovers tonight. We got 12 steals which was huge for us, and we’ve talked these last couple games. At Texas A&M, I think they took 14 more shots than us on goal, because we lost the turnover battle and we lost the offensive glass. Tonight, we ended up actually getting 10 more shots than Alabama because of the effort on the offensive glass, because the turnovers were even. But at the end of the day, the free throw line- they won that battle there we were we were never able to hit that big three to get us ahead there in the second half.”

On the players who stepped up tonight…
“I thought Jordan [Sears] did a really nice job attacking off the ball screens. He had five assists just one turnover in the first half, that was huge for us. As far as running our team, Cam, you know, obviously he’s going to be at the top of the scouting report every night out. I thought our forwards did a good job tonight of getting some really nice screens for him to try and free him up. But at the end of the day, we just weren’t able to be efficient enough on the offensive end to get up into the 80s against this high-powered offensive Alabama team.”

*LSU press release