Despite a valiant effort and Marquel Sutton's 21 points, the LSU Tigers fell short against the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The LSU Tigers fought hard once again, but were not able to pull off the top-25 upset as the Alabama Crimson Tide left Baton Rouge with a 90-83 win on Saturday night.
This season will probably draw an end to Matt McMahon's time as the Tigers' head coach, but how hard the players have been playing has been a testament to what he does well. Effort is high for a team that is now 2-12 in conference play with a season that is essentially over.
The injuries have been unlucky and have added up over the years. It's not enough to excuse the lack of progression in the program over the last four seasons, but it definitely makes one wonder what could have happened if the teams were healthy.
Without DJ Thomas this year, it has been a rotating cast of players taking over. For this game, it was the efforts of Marquel Sutton that had the team within reach for much of this game.
Sutton finished with a game-high 21 points, adding six rebounds and two assists. It was his second-straight game with 21 points, as he's starting to show what he could have done on a healthy team.
The Omaha Mavericks transfer averaged 18.9 points per game last year. He can fill up the basket with ease at times. He entered this one averaging 13.8 on the season, but that's up to 17.6 over the last six games.
The big difference in this game was the Crimson Tide's ability to draw fouls. LSU matched them on the boards, won the paint and made just one less three on 10 fewer attempts. Alabama was 30-for-37 from the charity stripe while the Tigers were 16-of-22.
Two LSU players fouled out. Robert Miller III did it in just 10 minutes of action. Two more players had four fouls. It's almost impossible to win when sending a good free-throw shooting team to the line for 37 attempts.
The Tigers have just four games left. Their next will come on Wednesday, February 25,, on the road against the Ole Miss Rebels.