LSU Melts Down in Final Minute and Loses 76-71 Heartbreaker to No. 10 Texas Tech

Tigers get heroic effort from Javonte Smart in potential seeding improvement kind of game

With 1:06 remaining, LSU led by seven and the story was going to be about Javonte Smart's heroic efforts down the stretch to pull off a win not many expected. Instead, a meltdown of epic proportion cost LSU a prime opportunity to improve it's NCAA tournament standing, falling to No. 10 Texas Tech 76-71. 

The Tigers held a 71-64 lead but sharpshooter Mac McClung saved his best for last, draining back-to-back threes in the span of 28 seconds to make it a one point game. From there, LSU's veteran forward Trendon Watford made a costly turnover on the in bounds pass for an easy Red Raiders layup and completely silencing the crowd in the PMAC. 

It was a stretch of basketball the sophomore forward will likely never forget as he was called for a charge on the ensuing offensive possession to shatter any hopes of holding on down the stretch. 

“Obviously a very disappointing loss. I thought that we played extremely hard. We just didn’t have some poise and some discipline that we needed in some key stretches, especially in the last minute or so. This is as disappointed as I’ve been all year,” Wade said. “I thought we played well enough to win against a very good ball club. We couldn’t close it out. Very, very disappointing.”

Closing out late in games has become a common theme in the Tigers losses this season and Saturday seemed to have reached a boiling point. 

“It was tough, but we have to finish better. He got offensive rebounds which led to wide open shots,” guard Cam Thomas said.

“Very frustrating, you know it’s all on us. It’s all on the team. We lost the game. We have to get better in some areas. Hopefully, we do better next time,” Smart said.

It was a hard fought game and certainly wasn't all terrible, in fact it was mostly positive, particulalry the heroics from the junior guard Smart. He finished with a game high 29 points on 12-of-18 shooting and knocked down big shot after big shot down the stretch.

Outside of Smart, offense was hard to come by as various players had different issues crop up throughout the game. 

Thomas started hot but cooled off mightily in the second half while Darius Days had a great game before going down with an injury. Will Wade said after the game that Days would miss a "couple of weeks" with a knee injury but there is no structural damage. 

Limiting the amount of offensive rebounds was a major point of emphasis for the team but the Red Raiders did grab 16 boards on the offensive end including 12 in the second half, and came away with 12 crucial second chance points for the game.

The first half was dictated by defense leading to offense but the second half was about survival. The Tigers lost Days with a knee injury halfway through and Watford was plagued with foul trouble for most of the half.

The game came down to whether or not LSU could grab rebounds without its two top contributors and if Smart and Thomas could scrape together enough offense to pull out the win. The two teams traded baskets for much of the half but it wasn't until Smart's back-to-back triples with 4:24 remaining that either team started getting any separation.

Those threes put LSU up 66-60 and was the turning point as Thomas would also knock down a clutch three down the stretch to put the Tigers up five with 2:07 to play before the game unraveled at the end.

Defense led to offense for the Tigers early in this game as six Texas Tech turnovers led to nine points off turnovers to help build an early 14-8 lead. Active hands from the LSU guards in particular led to easy transition buckets and was a big reason the Tigers were able to jump on the Red Raiders and also get the PMAC crowd into the game. 

The defensive effort was a trend that lasted throughout the first half as 10 Red Raiders turnovers led to 13 Tigers' points in transition. It was the hands of the guards and great on ball defense on the perimeter that led to the effective play on defense. 

Up next for the purple and gold is a road outing at Alabama on Wednesday to try and get back in the race for the SEC title. 

“We got to find a way to close the game. Looking forward to Wednesday,” Smart said.