LSU suffers loss of biblical proportions, 71-38 to A&M

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — LSU built its strongest case yet for the NIT Saturday – brick by brick.

Just when the Tigers were two wins away from an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and one win away from maybe entering the conversation, they cemented enough bricks together for their own National Invitation Tournament bracket in an embarrassing and historical, 71-38, loss to Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals at Bridgestone Arena.

LSU missed 14 consecutive shots from the 13:43 mark of the first half until 2:28 remained before halftime, relinquishing an 8-3 lead and falling behind by 30-10 and eventually by 35-13 at halftime. And that was it.

The Tigers’ 13 points in the first half were the second lowest in a half in 107 years of basketball at LSU and just three too many to tie the school record. They had exactly zero assists and 11 turnovers at the break and shot 5 of 24 from the field, including 1 of 11 from 3-point range for 9 percent. And LSU was consistent, shooting 20 percent in the first half, 20 percent in the second half and 20 percent for the game.

“We just couldn’t throw a rock in the ocean, man,” LSU forward Craig Victor said. “It was just one of those type of games at the wrong time.”

The Tigers fell to 19-14 overall as they missed 50 of 63 shots, including 5 of 27 shooting from 3-point range for 18.5 percent. LSU will learn on Sunday night where it will play in the NIT. The Aggies (26-7) advance to the SEC Tournament championship game at noon Sunday on ESPN against Kentucky (25-8), which defeated Georgia, 93-80, Saturday.

“We’ll focus on whatever’s next,” Victor said. “Just looking forward to something.”

Anything but this one.

Texas A&M took its biggest lead at 68-28 with 3:05 to play in the game.

LSU’s 38-point total was its lowest since losing, 57-38, at Alabama in 2010 when the team finished 11-20 overall and 2-14 in the SEC. The Tigers last scored fewer than 38 in a 50-33 loss to Ole Miss in 2001 when they finished 13-16 on the season, including 2-14 in the SEC.

LSU also became the first team in the SEC Tournament since before the shot clock to not score 40 points. Mississippi State lost by 42-31 to Alabama in the 1985 SEC Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. The shot clock came in two years later. LSU had not scored fewer in the SEC Tournament since a 59-36 loss to Kentucky in 1946.

“I’ve never, never been in a game like this,” said LSU guard Tim Quarterman, who was 2 of 14 from the field for six points after scoring 18 in an 84-75 win over Tennessee Friday. “Not anywhere I’ve played, never. We just couldn’t get it to go down. Usually one or two of us has it going or maybe one, but nobody had it today.”

Freshman guard Antonio Blakeney, LSU’s most effective offensive player in recent weeks, scored six points on 1-of-13 shooting after hitting 22 on Friday night. He was 1 of 7 from 3-point range.

“It was terrible,” Blakeney said. “Especially because of how bad we needed to win.”

Freshman forward Ben Simmons led LSU with 10 points as its only scorer in double figures. He had a season-low one assist and three turnovers. His three fouls in the first half contributed to the first half fallout as he scored five points with no assists and two turnovers in 14 minutes. Victor played just two minutes of the first half as he drew two early fouls. He finished with zero points for the first time all season as he was 0 for 5 from the field.

“We got a couple of guys in foul trouble, and I thought we lost a little bit of our edge, a little bit of our flow,” LSU coach Johnny Jones said. “That’s not something we’re used to doing, playing without both of those guys. They’ve been a very integral part of our team all year long.”

Victor came in averaging 12 points a game and had scored in double figures in 12 of LSU’s previous 17 games.

“To be totally honest, I wasn’t expecting us to lose,” Victor said. “I don’t think anybody in this locker room was. We came prepared. We came with confidence.”

They came with pockets full of bricks. They even improved upon the 0-for-14 drought with a 0-for-16 construction early in the second half after Quarterman actually hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening moments to get LSU within 39-19.

From the 17:39 mark of the second half to 11:53 remained, LSU missed shots from a variety of locales, including four from very close range. And the Aggies built their lead into the 30s and beyond. Tonny Morelos-Trocha led A&M with 13 points, and Jalen Jones had 12. Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy emptied his bench, using 14 players.

“You don’t envision beating someone by 40 in the semifinal game before you try to go to the championship, but that’s just how the game played out,” he said. “They kind of withered down as we got stronger, and the score resulted.”

Jones, who said he liked his players “energy” during a halftime interview, looked in shock.

“Very disappointing for us to find and pick the day to have a bad shooting day and not get anything to go,” he said. “Any time you end the way we did today, you’re very disappointed. I think it becomes more of an emotional thing and psychological.”

It boiled over for Simmons with 3:05 to go and LSU trailing 67-28. He drew a foul inside and bounced the basketball in frustration. It caromed high as the crowd jeered, and an official whistled him for a technical. Deep reserve Kyle Dobbins, who came in with six minutes played the SEC this season, made one of the two free throws for the 40-point advantage.

“I didn’t expect that to happen,” Simmons said. “It got out of hand a little bit.”

Now, the world’s best prospect a year ago and projected NBA first pick in a few months, will find himself in the NIT.

“Whatever the future holds, I want to play with this team as long as I can,” he said. “I didn’t tell myself where I was going to be or where the team was going to be. A lot of things went into that game, and I definitely didn’t expect that.”