The LSU Tigers lost their first game of the season on Sunday. While 8-1 still feels good, they had a prime opportunity to prove that this year is truly different, but failed to capitalize.
After taking care of business in the first month of the season, the Tigers faced their first ranked opponent on Sunday. It was the No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders, who had already lost to the Illinois Fighiting Illini and Purdue Boilermakers.
The Red Raiders are clearly a good team, but may also be a step behind the elites of the sport. This is the conversation that Matt McMahon should focus on getting LSU back into first.
Texas Tech ended up wiping the floor with the Tigers in an 82-58 blowout, mostly due to a poor start from LSU. The Tigers were outscored 47-26 in the first half, making a closer 35-32 second half moot.
LSU had climbed up to No. 25 in KenPom and has now dropped all the way back down to 40. Still higher than they have been in years, but it feels less earned than before.
The Tigers had a horrid shooting performance, shooting 33/17/63 splits as a team. They've had a few nights where they struggled to make shots, but were able to dominate the boards previously. They got out-rebounded 48-33. Red Raiders forward JR Toppin had 15 on his own.
LSU will need to figure out how to incorporate more three-point shooting into their offense if they want to compete in the SEC. Games like this one highlight a math equation that is not ideal. A team must be more dominant in the paint if they want to get by making just four threes in a game.
The Tigers currently rank No. 273 in the nation for attempts per game and No. 176 in three-point field goal percentage. Not the best combination.
This was also the weakest performance of the year by Dedan Thomas Jr. He is the SEC leader and ranks sixth nationally with seven assists per game, but had just one in this game to go along with 13 points on 5-of-14 from the field.
LSU will likely be fine, this is still their best team in years, but there are still clearly things for them to figure out. They were 11-3 in non-conference games last season and finished 14-18. This story has happened before. McMahon will need to figure out how to win big games with this squad, or his time in Baton Rouge will be limited.