LSU Starts Slow, Can't Shoot its Way Back in 70-55 SEC Opening Loss to No. 11 Auburn

Tigers drop first game of season as offensive woes reach a glaring point of emphasis moving forward

LSU's half court offensive woes were in glaring form to open SEC play. The purple and gold shot 29% from the floor and couldn't shoot themselves back into the game, dropping its SEC opener 70-55 to Auburn. 

The story told itself early as the purple and gold opened the game 0-for-16 from the field and allowed Auburn to sprint out to a 18-1 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. 

No shot came easy for the LSU offense that couldn't convert on any penetration into the lane and shots that did get up were rejected by Auburn big man Walker Kessler. Auburn's big man was the biggest difference in this one, accumulating 16 points, nine rebounds but most importantly 11 blocks against the purple and gold.

"I thought we played with tremendous effort tonight, we played our hearts out. We didn't play with the discipline and smarts we needed," Wade said. "We cut it to six in both halves but I was pleased with our effort.

"I still feel great about this team. We've got great people, great chemistry. We're built on a rock solid foundation."

LSU's weakness has come in the half court on offense and one of the worries was what would this team be able to do when it wasn't forcing 24 turnovers a game. It was as rough a start imaginable as LSU got too trigger happy from three with 11 of those first 16 shots missing badly from long range. 

But much like the rest of this season, LSU didn't let its slow start waver on the defensive side of the ball and was able to keep this a ball game with strong on ball pressure and force 10 first half Auburn turnovers. Despite a 5-for-25 start from the field, LSU was able to stay in the game by knocking in 8-of-13 free throws, created by transition opportunities off of turnovers. 

The purple and gold were able to close the first 20 minutes knocking in 4-of-9 shots and get the deficit to as low as 24-18, highlighted by threes from Darius Days and Mwani Wilkinson. Yet a strong close from Jabari Smith, who finished with 16 points for Auburn, would make it a 32-21 deficit at the break. 

Days would finish the game with 11 points while Tari Eason would add 11 more. 

With Brandon Murray out of the lineup due to a hamstring injury, LSU really needed guards Xavier Pinson and Eric Gaines to step up and it was a struggle early for the pair. The two went a combined 0-for-9 from the field in the first 20 minutes with six turnovers.

One saving grace for LSU has been its propensity to go on runs in the second half but the purple and gold came out slow once again and allowed Auburn to push the lead up to 17 points out of the gate. Pinson would show up in the final 20 minutes, scoring nine of his 13 in the second half but was in constant foul trouble.

LSU was able to cut it to single digits a number of times, the closest being a 50-44 deficit with 6:40 to play but turnovers down the stretch kept the team from getting closer, turning the ball over 17 times in the loss. Every time LSU would get it to single digits, Auburn would go on a mini run to push the lead up to 12-15 points. 

"It's difficult to come back but our two starting guards had three assists and 11 turnovers," Wade said. "That's difficult and I believe in those guys but that's tough to overcome."

LSU will now come home and prepare for another tough home SEC opener against Kentucky in the PMAC on Jan. 4. 

"This is some guys first SEC game," Days said. "We try to prepare them on different stories when we were first in the SEC and kind of the growing pains we go through. This is a great environment, we're learning from this loss and great things are coming."