By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU could have had three players as good as its point guard Dedan Thomas Jr., and it couldn’t have stopped the onslaught with which South Carolina opened the game Tuesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Gamecocks hit 100 percent of their shots – 9 of 9 and 6 of 6 from 3-point range – to open the game and take a 28-10 lead before their first miss at the 11:47 mark of the first half.
LSU came back strong, but in the end it never recovered and lost 78-68 to fall to 0-2 in the Southeastern Conference and 12-3 overall in the Tigers’ second straight game without Thomas because of a lower leg injury.
LSU needs Thomas back quickly as it plays at No. 11 Vanderbilt (14-0, 1-0 SEC) on Saturday (12 p.m., SEC Network). The junior transfer point guard who is averaging 16 points and 7 assists a game was walking around at the game without the walking boot he wore previously, but he is not expected to play in LSU’s next game. He
“I still think he has a little ways to,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said. “He’s living in the training room. He’s still day-to-day. I wish I could give you a better timeline.”
McMahon said it was a non-contact lower leg injury that Thomas suffered on Friday.
LANE KIFFIN AND SAM LEAVITT SPOTTED AT GAME
The best news to come out of the game was that new LSU football coach Lane Kiffin showed up just before the second half with No. 1-ranked Transfer Portal quarterback Sam Leavitt of Arizona State on day two of his visit with the Tigers. He will spend more time at LSU on Wednesday as Kiffin hopes to gain a commitment from him. Leavitt sat with Kiffin and portal prospect Eugene “Tre” Wilson III, the No. 8 wide receiver from the Florida Gators.
South Carolina (10-5, 1-1 SEC) came in with a 106 ranking in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) and as a seven-point underdog to No. 38 NET LSU, but that is not how the game started.
Elijah Strong hit his first shot for a 3-0 South Carolina lead at the 19:25 mark and went on to hit all four of his shots from long range to finish the half with 18 points before a final tally of 30 points.
The Gamecocks hit 10 of 13 three-pointers in the first half and led by as many as 28 at 43-15 with 4:36 to go on a three-pointer by Meechie Johnson, who had 15 in the first half and was 3 of 3 from three-point range before finishing with 19.
LSU, meanwhile, hit just 4 of 12 from long distance in the first half and shot 8 of 28 overall for 28 percent. The Tigers trailed 50-25 at the half.
“We got annihilated in the first half,” McMahon said. “You’re not going to come back on anybody from that. They crushed us with the three. We were not flying around. We didn’t have the urgency. I thought they were very comfortable. We just never made them uncomfortable. They did whatever they wanted to do.”
LSU gradually cut into the lead in the second half and actually got within 70-63 with 3:54 to play on a Pablo Tamba putback and a free throw by Rashad King. But they would get no closer.
Guard Max Mackinnon led LSU with 15 points with 3-of-8 shooting from three-point range. Tamba and P.J. Carter each had 10. The Tigers finished 8 of 25 from three-point range for 32 percent to the Gamecocks’ 12 of 21 for 57 percent.
Forward Marquel Sutton had his second straight poor game, scoring just six points on 1-of-5 shooting with five rebounds after averaging double figures in points all season and near double figures in rebounding. Thomas backup Jalen Reece scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting, but did have six assists. And center Mike Nwoko struggled inside, missing 7 of 9 shots.
“For whatever reason, I didn’t have us ready to go,” McMahon said. “You can’t give up 50 and 10 threes in a first half on your home court. We’ve got to get a lot better in a hurry.”
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