The Florida Gators crushed the LSU Tigers on the boards and ruined DJ Thomas's comeback in a 79-61 rout.
The LSU Tigers could not keep the good times rolling in SEC play as the Men's Basketball team fell 79-61 to the Florida Gators on Tuesday night.
Matt McMahon's squad has fallen to 13-6 on the year and just 1-5 in conference play as a repeat of last year is underway. Something has to change quick or it feels like it could be the last season that McMahon spends at the helm.
In some good news, Dedan Thomas Jr. finally returned to the court. Thomas didn't have the game that he would have wanted, just two points on 1-of-8 from the field, but he did play 17 minutes off the bench and pick up three assists.
There's no reason to worry about the guard, yet, as he just needs to get back into the flow of things. It's great to see him back on the court at all.
The real reason that the Tigers lost this game was because of the boards. The Gators outrebounded them 50 to 30. A whopping 24 of those rebounds came on the offensive glass and led to 21 Florida points.
Gators center Rueben Chinyelu alone almost had as many rebounds as LSU did as a team. Chinyelu finished with 15 points and 21 rebounds, as he did pretty much whatever he wanted to on offense.
Tigers center Mike Nwoko had a nice offensive game with 17 points in 23 minutes, but he was in foul trouble and couldn't really buy a stop on the other end.
LSU's front court is going to have to do some real self-reflection on this game if they hope to turn things around in the SEC. The Gators have a strong front court, but they don't get much easier in the rest of the conference.
The Tigers now face another top-25 team on the road up next as they prepare for the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.