By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU played extremely well at Texas A&M Saturday without star point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. in its Southeastern Conference opener.
But in the end, it needed Thomas badly in a 75-72 loss in College Station. Thomas, who is LSU’s leading scorer with 16.2 points a game and the SEC’s assist leader with 7.0 a game, suffered a lower leg injury last week and did not play.
LSU coach Matt McMahon said he will be “day-to-day moving forward.” The Tigers (12-2, 0-1 SEC) host South Carolina (9-5, 0-1 SEC) on Tuesday (6 p.m., ESPNU).
LSU freshman point guard Jalen Reece filled in for Thomas and self-destructed down the stretch of a tight game. The Tigers had the ball with 9.1 seconds to go, trailing 72-70, when Reece inexplicably heaved a lob pass of 40 feet to an open Mike Nwoko underneath the goal. But he overthrew it big time out of bounds. Reece had plenty of time to dribble toward the A&M goal and throw a higher percentage pass.
The Aggies (11-3, 1-0 SEC) took a 75-72 lead from there, but LSU still had a chance to tie with 3.7 seconds left. Reserve guard Mazi Mosley got a good look from 29 feet away and let go what looked like a good shot, but it just rimmed out as time expired.
“I really admire the courage and fight, and the effort was tremendous,” McMahon said.
The Tigers (12-2, 0-1 SEC) looked done with 8:53 to go in the game when the Aggies took a 62-52 lead on a short jumper by Pop Isaacs. But LSU stormed back with a vengeance to outscore A&M 12-1 in under three minutes to take a 64-63 lead with 5:33 left on a Robert Miller seven-foot hook shot.
“They fought, scrapped and clawed to get that one-point lead,” McMahon said.
LSU took its last lead at 66-64 with 2:57 to play on a layup by forward Pablo Tamba after an assist by Reece.
LSU trailed 37-34 at the half, but were hanging in there without Thomas. In the end, the Tigers couldn’t handle A&M’s press defense as it had 16 turnovers.
Reece finished with four points on 2-of-7 shooting and 0 for 2 from 3-point range. He had only three turnovers, but all three were in the last 2:25 on errant passes.
Nwoko led the Tigers with 21 points on five rebounds, and Max Mackinnon added 20 with 4-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Reserve guard Rashad King played more and hit 10 points with a pair of three-pointers on four attempts.
Rashaun Agee led the Aggies with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
What also hurt the Tigers in addition to Anderson’s absence was the lack of production from forward Marquel Sutton, who came in averaging 14.2 points and 9.6 rebounds. But he scored only three points on 0-of-4 shooting with two misses in two tries from three-point range and had only five rebounds.
The Aggies’ zone defense, traps and pressure confused him time and time again.
“That’s the first time in his life he had seen anything like that,” McMahon said. “It disrupted his rhythm.”
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