LSU draws A&M, Arkansas on heels of Kentucky game
Published 7:00 pm Saturday, January 6, 2018
The Southeastern Conference didn’t do Will Wade any favors in his first year at LSU to open conference play.
Nothing like starting at the top — Wade and the Tigers (9-4, 0-1), picked in preseason polls to finish dead last in the league, got their first taste of SEC play Wednesday with a hard-fought 74-71 loss to perennial favorite Kentucky.
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Today brings the first SEC road trip, to Texas A&M (11-3, 0-2), which despite the 0-2 start in conference play, at the moment is ranked higher than the Wildcats at No. 11 in the country.
It won’t get any easier, either. The Tigers will travel to No. 22-ranked Arkansas (11-3, 1-1) Wednesday for a second straight road game.
Wade said he was encouraged by his team’s play against Kentucky, when the Tigers led by five at the half before fading late in the game and missing a potential tying 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“It was good but not good enough,” Wade said. “That doesn’t get us anywhere.”
Evidently Wade doesn’t deal in moral victories — the near miss seemed to annoy him more than encourage him.
“We got better in the practices leading up to Kentucky,” he said. “That’s what I was miffed about. We practiced a lot better than we played. I really thought we were going to play well. There was a little bit of disconnect. Trying to figure out where we got our wires crossed.
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“We weren’t able to sustain that for 40 minutes, and against a team like Kentucky you have to be able to sustain that. The first half we guarded them fairly well. We had them taking the shots we wanted them to take most of the time.
“I thought from the 15:11 mark on in the second half we maybe had three good defensive possessions. We wore down mentally and physically, which was disappointing and I don’t think we put together enough good possessions, especially defensively.”
LSU has been led by 5-foot-10 freshman Tremont Waters, who leads the Tigers in scoring (17.2 ppg) and the SEC in assists (6.2 apg) and steals (2.5 spg).
Waters had his third double-double of the season against Kentucky with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
The Tigers got a lift against Kentucky from Duop Reath with 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Texas A&M has been short-handed in its two SEC losses but will get 50-percent 3-point shooter D.J. Hogg back from a three-game suspension for today’s game.
Aggies head coach Billy Kennedy said Admon Gilder (12.7 ppg) and Duane Wilson (12.1 ppg) are unlikely to play because of knee injuries, while returning All-SEC second-teamer Robert Williams (a Louisiana native from Oil City) is doubtful while suffering from the flu.
Kentucky forward Kevin Knox (5) and LSU forward Duop Reath (1) go after the loose ball as Kentucky guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (22) watches in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La.
