LSU Suffers First Loss of the Season at Auburn, 70-55

Photo By: oanow.com/Butch Dill

​Da Boot Sports
12/30/2021
By: Terrill J. Weil


AUBURN, AL: LSU has started games slowly all season long but have been able to recover to win in convincing fashion against nonconference opponents... Welcome to SEC play on the road.
The Tigers started slow at Auburn and never could settled down enough to recover, failing to match Auburn's intensity throughout the game, falling 70-55 for their first loss of the season.
Bruce Pearl mentioned earlier in the week that he was concerned about LSU's suffocating defense, but it was his team's defensive pressure that made the difference in the contest, forcing the Tigers into several key turnovers and sloppy offensive play.
LSU would go 0-16 from the floor over the first ten and a half minutes of the contest. As poorly as the Tigers played,
they managed to battle back into the contest, before foul trouble began to cripple their already struggling offensive attack.
LSU finished the game shooting a dismal 18-63 from the floor for an embarrassing 29%. The Tigers also hurt themselves turning the ball over 17 times, while Auburn outrebounded LSU, 43-37.
Xavier Pinson led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points. Darius Days and Tari Eason both finished the contest with 11 points each.
Jabari Smith Jr. finished with 16 points, but it was Walker Kessler who hurt the Tigers under the basket, scoring 16 points, grabbing nine rebounds, while blocking eleven shots.
With the loss LSU is now 12-1 overall, 0-1 in SEC play....

“We played our hearts out,” Will Wade said. “We just didn’t play with the discipline and the smarts we needed. I know people will be upset and jumping off the ledges and stuff like that. I still feel great about this team. We got great people. We got great chemistry. We're built on a rock-solid foundation. We're good. We've got great character, and nothing changed about this team.”


LSU controlled the opening tip but only managed a point as Eric Gaines would hit one of two free throws giving the Bayou Bengals an early 1-0 lead.
Auburn answered with a 18-0 run over the next 10 minutes of the first half as LSU began the contest ice cold, missing their first 16 shots of the contest.
The Tigers finally scored their first basket of the game when Tari Eason took the ball coast to coast, laying it in and drawing the foul. Eason would hit the free throw to pull the Tigers to within 18-4 at the 9:14 mark.
From that point, LSU finally seemed to settle down as they outscored Auburn 14-6 over the next six minutes to cut the Auburn lead to 24-18 with 3:29 left in the half.
Auburn would lead 32-21 at the half after retaking control of the game outscoring LSU 8-4 during the final three minutes of the half.

Auburn would start the second half scoring four straight to build their lead to 15 points, 36-21 as LSU once again find themselves struggling on offense.
After trailing by as much as 17 points in the half, LSU would fight back to cut the lead to single digits, 43-34 with 13:21 left on the clock.
With 7:51 left on the clock, Justice Williams hit a three pointer to pull LSU to within six points, 48-42. But a couple
of turnovers later, Auburn would extend their lead back to 11,... 55-44.
LSU would once again cut the lead to nine points with 4:20 left on the clock, but Auburn would again answer, scoring five straight to grab a 62-48 lead with 3:24 left.
The Tigers simply couldn't muster anything else on offense as Auburn's defensive pressure completely kept LSU out of sync for the rest of the contest.

“This is what life's like on the road and the SEC, this is how it is,” Wade added. “We got to learn from it, we got to grow from it."

It doesn't get any easier for the Tigers as next up they will host #18 Kentucky in the PMAC on Tuesday, Jan. 4th at 6:00pm