LSU Gets Back to Winning Ways With Critical 76-68 Victory Over Texas A&M

Tigers snap three game skid, get senior guard Xavier Pinson back to normal workload

LSU came out swinging early on the road against Texas A&M and never looked back, building an early lead through hellacious defense and scorching offense from beyond the arc to get back in the win column with a 75-68 victory.  

With the win, LSU (17-7, 5-6) snaps a three game losing streak and a stretch where the program lost six of seven games. It also extends the Tigers win streak over the Aggies to 10 games. 

This was as crisp as LSU looked on both ends of the floor in over a month, headlined by the three point shooting as the Tigers went uncharacteristically 8-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first half and the ball sharing was good as it's looked all conference play. The other half of the equation was getting back to its identity on defense and with the Tigers having all of its ducks in a row, LSU was able to be much more aggressive with its full court press and in the half court. 

 

The Aggies went seven minutes without a point at one time in the tremendous first half for the Tigers. For the game, Texas A&M shot 30% from the floor and were forced into 15 turnovers throughout the night.

LSU was able to capitalize and get back to one of its patented runs with a 27-5 spark to grab a 36-16 lead heading into the break. But the real spark was getting an important senior leader back on the floor. 

LSU's been dying to get senior guard Xavier Pinson back to full strength and on Tuesday night, Pinson helped breathe new life into the Tigers with just his presence on the floor. While it didn't show in the box score as much, what Pinson does better than anyone on this team is change up his pace in the half court. Changing up the pace gets defenses out of rhythm and can slow the game down offensively, which really helped find consistent good looks for the team.  

X MARKS THE SPOT. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/qcs8icMpwc

— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) February 9, 2022

Purely his ability to get to the rim and be the point defender on defense really helped LSU gain some early momentum and build on its lead behind the sharp shooting of players like Darius Days, Brandon Murray and Tari Eason. 

Pinson would finish with 11 points on the evening but just having that extra body available and able to contribute is a huge win for the Tigers as they try and climb out of this midseason hole. LSU's offense flowed very well minus the high turnover numbers once again, dishing out 17 assists on its 25 makes for the contest.

Every player had a little hand in the offensive success, with Days, Pinson, Murray and Eason all scoring in double figures.

Naturally those 22 turnovers on the night would start to catch up with the Tigers, allowing the Aggies to score 22 points off turnovers for the night. An 11-0 run in a four minute stretch of the second half, with Pinson primarily on the bench, allowed Texas A&M to get back into the game with LSU committing six turnovers during that stretch. 

But it was Eason and his 25 total points who would really take charge and push the Tigers lead back up to a comfortable double digit advantage behind some more disciplined offensive sets. 

Up next for the Tigers is a home matchup with Mississippi State on Saturday at 7 p.m.