Tigers Blown Out by No. 18 Alabama, 105-75

Death by a thousand three-pointers

Hmm, yes that was certainly…something.

The LSU basketball team (10-3, 5-2) received a rather absurd ass kicking Tuesday night from Alabama (12-3, 7-0) losing 105 to 75 as the Tide drowned the Tigers in three-pointers.

The game was billed as a heavyweight bout between the teams currently in first and second place in the SEC, instead it was the basketball equivalent of Mike Tyson knocking out Marvis Frazier in 30 seconds.

Alabama hit 14 three pointers…in the first half. Not the game mind you, the first 20 minutes. The Tide came into the game averaging 10 made threes a game and eclipsed in no time. Alabama scored 60 points in first half.

But the Tide’s barrage of threes wasn’t limited to just the first half. Alabama “only” shot 9-24 from three in the second half, which would give the Tide an SEC-record 23 threes. All told, Alabama hit 23 of 43 attempts. I mean look at how absurd this shot chart is.

Bama’s senior guard John Petty led all scorers with 24 points on 8-10 shooting from three. The Tide also had two other players, Jahvon Quinerly and Joshua Primo hit six threes each. Quinerly and Primo each scored 22 points as well.

Was tonight an indictment on the LSU basketball program as we currently know it? I wouldn’t go that far. Basketball is a make or miss game and Alabama just wouldn’t miss.

Will Wade—if he can stand to watch the film—can use some of those makes from three as teaching moments. Not closing out on shooters and failing to locate the hot hand can be fixed. But when Alabama has guys pulling up from the U in the LSU logo at midcourt, with a hand in their face I might add, and draining that shot what can you do?

It was a miserable game for LSU, but it’s just one singular game. This doesn’t knock LSU all the way down from second place to dead last and it shouldn’t keep LSU out of the NCAA Tournament. If it’s any consolation, Alabama’s also been beating the brakes off everyone lately. The Tide beat Florida by 15, Kentucky by 20 and Arkansas by 31.

What LSU can’t allow is for this game to submarine the remainder of their season. LSU has to go to Rupp Arena on Saturday, and they’ll host another top-15 team, Texas Tech, on the 30th. And oh by the way, LSU will have to go to Tuscaloosa on February 3, 15 days after this disaster of a game.

LSU took it on the chin Tuesday night, no doubt about it. But there’s more than enough veteran leadership on this roster who will make sure nothing like this happens again.