Tigers Fight Hard, Fall To Crimson Tide, 79-69

Photo By: Grant Jarreau

Da Boot Sports
2/4/2023
LSU Sports Communications
By: Kent Lowe


   BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team put a tremendous fight against No. 4 Alabama but couldn’t make enough plays to get the victory, falling 79-69, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers fall to 12-11 overall, 1-9 in the SEC, while Alabama is now at 20-3, 10-0 in the league.
LSU played hard throughout, trying to erase the memory of the 40-point loss some three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa. LSU never allowed the Tide to get out by more than 12 points in the game and the Tigers cut the deficit to just two points three times in the second half, at 50-48 with 15:48 to play, 53-51 with 14:39 to go and 56-54 with 13:09 to play.

But after Adam Miller’s three-pointer that made it 56-54 in favor of Alabama, the Tide got a three-pointer and after an LSU miss pushed the margin back out to seven and LSU never got closer than six the rest of the game.
LSU junior Derek Fountain had by far his best game as a collegiate, scoring 26 points in 35 minutes, making 6-of-9 field goals, including 2-of-3 from the arc and 12-of-15 at the free throw line as he drew a total of nine fouls. Fountain, whose previous career high was as a freshman ironically in the Maravich Center as a Mississippi State Bulldog against LSU, was 20.

Fountain also had two assists, no turnovers and blocked four shots.

Junior Cam Hayes also had a good game with 15 points and a co-high eight boards in 28 minutes, with three treys for LSU.

Rylan Griffen and Noah Clowney each had 14 points to lead Alabama’s five in double figures with Mark Sears and Nimari Burnett each getting 13. Brandon Miller had a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Both teams played pretty clean basketball with LSU having its second lowest turnover number of the season at eight, while Alabama turned it over nine times. LSU had a 7-3 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Tigers out rebounded Alabama, 40-35, and had for the third straight game an advantage in offensive rebounds of 13-4, but it only resulted in a 6-4 advantage in second chance points.

Alabama shot 44.8 percent for the game (26-of-58), including 53.3 percent (16-of-30) in the first half when they opened up a 44-37 halftime lead. LSU shot just 30.6 percent for the game (19-of-62) with seven treys.

Both teams were good at the foul line, with Alabama making 14-of-15 (93.3%) and LSU finishing 24-of-31 (77.4%)

​LSU returns to the road on Wednesday night to face Mississippi State in Starkville, before a Saturday night 7:30 p.m. game against Texas A&M.
  

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Photos Below By: Grant Jarreau

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