GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU’s basketball team has been through hell. Now, can it come back?
The Tigers (12-11, 1-9 Southeastern Conference) led No. 25 Ole Miss, 70-59, with 3:15 to play after a layup by Cam Carter.
What could go wrong?
Everything, and Ole Miss won, 72-70.
Now, the Tigers play at an improving Arkansas (14-9, 3-7 SEC) on Wednesday (8 p.m., ESPN2). The Razorbacks are the only team in the SEC with a loss to LSU – 78-74 on Jan. 14 in Baton Rouge. But the Hogs and coach John Calipari just upset Calipari’s old Kentucky team, 89-79, at his old home Rupp Arena when the Wildcats were ranked No. 12 on Feb. 1. Then they won at Texas, 78-70, last week, and nearly beat No. 3 Alabama before losing, 85-81, on Saturday.
MATT MCMAHON CALLS OLE MISS LOSS “DEVASTATING,” AND IT COULD BE FOR HIM
LSU has lost six straight, but that last one was a killer.
“They capitalized on our mistakes,” said Carter, who had two turnovers over those final three minutes and missed a critical layup that could’ve put the Tigers up 72-65 with 1:36 to play. “I feel like we didn’t stay disciplined over the last three minutes of the game to do what we needed to do win the game. We just have got to get in the gym as whole and work on our mistakes.”
Carter, a senior leader, played very well as he has all season, scoring 16 points on 6-of-14 shooting with 4 of 7 from 3-point range along with four assists and four rebounds. LSU, as a whole, played very well for 37 minutes.
“We don’t always understand why He (God) does the things he does,” Carter said. “Some things are out of our control, and it’s just like that sometimes.”
Sophomore forward Daimion Collins also played well and continues to improve. He scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. He, like Carter and like coach Matt McMahon, blamed himself.
“We’ve got to get back in the lab and go back to work and come out next game and get a win,” he said.
“I just didn’t get the job done,” McMahon said to open his weekly radio show Monday night. “We’re going to attack this adversity. For 37 minutes, we played physical, we rebounded, we played good zone defense and switched well on defense. That’s why it was so disappointing and crushing. There was total devastation in the locker room.”
McMahon said his team practiced well Monday.
“Their response was really good,” he said. “They’re taking the perspective to learn from it. That is the only pathway forward.”
Asked after the game, if it was his lowest point of the season, McMahon seemed to agree.
“It is crushing,” he said. “Players were really connected as one. I thought they really competed at a high level. And to not be able to close it out is difficult to handle certainly. The only way I know to move forward is to learn from it.”
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