LSU basketball stars react to narrow loss against Nicholls

In college basketball, you play around 30 games per season, giving plenty of flexibility for a slip or two early on. However, for LSU basketball and coach Matt McMahon, it’s hard to imagine they had a loss against Nicholls on their early-season itinerary. Here’s what LSU basketball stars Jalen Reed and Mike Williams had to say following tonight’s 66-68 loss.

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— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) November 11, 2023

LSU basketball stars Jalen Reed and Mike Williams react to close loss vs. Nicholls

Heading into halftime, LSU basketball had played about as poorly as you could imagine for the first 20 minutes of tonight’s game. The team couldn’t get anything to go on offense, while Nicholls was hitting almost anything they wanted.

In turn, the Tigers found themselves down 44-25 at the half, trailing by as much as 24 at one point. However, coach Matt McMahon’s squad wasn’t ready to give in. Following a significant comeback late in the game, the team was up 66-65 with just seconds remaining.

Unfortunately, LSU basketball would come up just short following some late-game heroics from Nicholls’ senior guard, Jalen White. Ultimately, the Colonels came out on top, winning 68-66 in Baton Rouge.

Following the game, several LSU basketball stars addressed the media about what went wrong and how they plan to move on.

“I feel like in the first half we came out low-energy,” freshman guard Mike Williams said Friday evening. “A lot of effort, but low energy. So, in order for us to achieve what we want to achieve, we’ve got to start the game how we started the second half.”

Sophomore forward Jalen Reed echoed Williams’ comments, saying, “It’s hard to win when you have a first half like that. We came out with a lot of stuff we don’t usually do, stuff we don’t teach, stuff we don’t work on, and it ended up hurting us really bad in the first half. It’s hard to win when you go down 24 points in the first half.”

It’s never easy to drop a close game to an in-state foe, but the fact that it came so early in the season could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Where do the Tigers go from here

With tonight’s loss, the LSU basketball team finds itself with an overall record of 1-1. The Tigers won last week vs. Mississippi Valley State 106-60 and played as well as possible. Now, after their game vs. Nicholls, it’s safe to say we’ve seen both sides of the spectrum for this Tiger basketball team.

Luckily, the season is still incredibly young, and they have plenty of time to turn things around. Next week, coach Matt McMahon and his squad will head to Charleston, SC, to take on Dayton in game one of the Charleston Classic.

The tournament will begin on November 16, so there’s not much time to get back into a groove. However, sophomore Jalen Reed sounded encouraged and is ready to return to work.

“We just gotta get back in the lab, keep working,” the star forward said. “We’re just gonna get back to work Sunday, practice hard, get ready to go to Charleston next weekend and turn it around. The team has a ‘next play, next opportunity’ mindset, so I think coming into next week, we’ll play a lot better.”

There’s a long season ahead for the Tigers. However, another loss or two like tonight’s vs. Nicholls could be devastating for a practically brand-new roster. It’s up to coach Matt McMahon to prepare the guys to go out and be better heading forward.

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