BATON ROUGE — Storm Warren matched a career-high with 21 points, while Tasmin Mitchell chipped in 19 points and 12 rebounds but it wasn’t enough as the LSU men’s basketball team dropped a 61-59 decision to Utah Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers (8-5) surged out to a 47-35 advantage after an Aaron Dotson lay-up with 13:48 remaining in the second half. Utah (7-7) responded with a 26-12 finishing kick capped by a Carlton Brown three-pointer from the right baseline at the 1:10 mark.
LSU had an opportunity to send the game into overtime, but Zach Kinsley missed a put-back attempt off the back iron with four seconds to go. Two seconds later, the Utes missed the front-end of a one-and-one at the foul line. Mitchell grabbed the rebound but his heave from 60-feet fell short as time expired.
After shooting 50 percent from the floor in the first half, the Tigers went 6-for-27 in the second half. Utah limited LSU to a pair of baskets over the final 13:48 and handed the Tigers their second non-conference home setback under head coach Trent Johnson.
Warren knocked down 6-of-12 from the floor and buried a career-best nine free throws. He also hauled in nine rebounds to fall just short of his eight double-double of the season.
LSU came out firing on all cylinders and built an 11-3 lead as Warren connected for a three-point play at the 16:15 mark. Utah got back within three points on five separate occasions, the latest at 29-26 with 5:26 left, before the Tigers scored 10 of the final 17 points to take a 39-33 edge into the locker room. Mitchell connected for 15 of his 19 points in the first half.
Utah had three players record double-figures highlighted by 14 points from Luka Drca. Brown finished with 12 points, while Kim Tillie added 10 points.
LSU concludes the non-conference slate Monday against McNeese State. Tip-off is on-tap for 7 p.m. and the game can be heard live on the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge) and online at LSUsports.net in the Geaux Zone.
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON QUOTES
Opening statement …
“First of all, that was a tough game for the most part. For the first 30 minutes, I thought we played good basketball. In the first half, I thought Storm (Warren) and Tasmin (Mitchell) were doing a good job. I thought we as a team were doing a good job of going inside out. We were 14 and 28 from the field. I thought (Utah) made adjustments to take Tasmin and Storm away. We made adjustments in terms of trying to put the ball in Bo (Spencer’s) hands and have him be aggressive offensively. For whatever reason, he chose not to be. Chris Bass, Zach Kinsley and he were having a chance to get in the lane. There was a period around the 15-minute mark in the second half where we were in the bonus. The plan was to run call around the perimeters, stay aggressive and get in the lane. I don’t want to take anything away from Utah. They beat us, but when one of our better players isn’t right, we have problems. I have a hurt group for the most part. I think everyone in our locker room with the exception of one or two guys is really hurting. We have to come back tomorrow and practice lightly to get ready for a McNeese State team that took Texas Tech to the wire.”
On his plan for the last few minutes of the game …
“What we wanted to do was run press breakers. Bo was in the position where he could’ve come back to the ball, but I don’t know how bad he wanted to. Whoever got it was supposed to get to the left and try to get to the rim because we needed two points. Tasmin was put in situation where I thought he took a bad shot, but the key was to get the ball back to Bo. Bo was in a situation where it was a one-on-one. He usually gets open in that scenario. He didn’t get open. Tasmin got it and tried to stay aggressive. I would have liked to have seen him get the ball in his left hand and go. That is what we wanted. We wanted it either in Bo’s hands first or Tasmin’s second. We never should have been in that situation when we were up 10 and 12.
“We are fighting. We have a lot of guys out there fighting and trying to win the game. Then, we have a guy or two not in-tune for whatever reason and not being ready to play and being selfish throughout. That hurts us. Obviously it’s my responsibility to try to get this right. You know what’s going on. You see who’s playing with passion and who’s not. You see who is working hard. That’s the problem with our team sometimes in terms of our inconsistency being up and down. When things get tough, guys have a tendency to worry about themselves. If they don’t get their number called right away, they have a tendency to worry about why they aren’t getting shots. I was pleased with the effort and energy for the most part, and again, we need to get ready.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Forward Tasmin Mitchell
On Utah coming from behind to win…
“I think we weren’t making shots, and they came down and executed on the offensive end. You can’t trade baskets like that, especially when you’re not scoring, but I don’t think we came out with a sense of urgency or like we did in the first half.”
On if LSU had a set play in the final offensive possession…
“It was just to get the ball in and make something happen. It wasn’t really set.”
On Utah putting the ball in Luka Drca’s hands in the second half…
“Everybody had defensive problems. Drca made some big plays down at the end. He really executed, but I think as far as us helping and stuff like that, I think sometimes we help too much. Sometimes we didn’t help. I don’t think we all did a good defensive job late in the second half.”
On where the team’s mindset is as conference play approaches…
“Every team hates to lose. We lost a big one tonight. It would have been a good win for us to help our self-esteem and momentum. We have to wipe this off the calendar, look forward to McNeese State. Let’s see if we can get that momentum going into that game and then, hitting Alabama.”
Forward Storm Warren
On playing against bigger post players…
“Basically, you just need to be in position and stay ready. You just have to try to take a first step and be able to play ahead of them.”
On if he has ever gone up against a player who is 7-foot-3…
“No, this is my first time experiencing that.”
On what the team has to do to get ready for conference play…
“We have to take this game and learn from it.”
UTAH HEAD COACH JIM BOYLEN
Opening Statement …
“We have been stressing defensive rebounding. I felt that our defense tonight was as good as it’s ever been. I think in our last two games we have taken steps forward defensively. Our rebounding has to get better, although tonight we got just enough to win. I thought it was similar to last year’s team in that our defense kept us in it until our offense came around. I am proud of my team. This team has to get tougher though, because we were not tough enough tonight. David Foster played awesome. Luka Drka made some huge plays, as did Carlon Brown and we held in there. Shawn Glover’s seven points off the bench were huge for us. We had a lot of guys contribute. It has been tough for us because Jay Watkins lost his father. Our team took it hard. It was tough. I don’t want to make somebody’s death as an impetus to win, but our team was shaken and we hung in there.”
On what adjustments they made in the second half …
We went small at the end and I thought that helped us. It helped us space the floor offensively, and it helped us guard defensively. We were able to win because of Carlon Brown’s defense on Tasmin Mitchell.”
On Carlon Brown’s three point shot to take the lead …
“The release was great and the ball was spinning, and I knew it had a chance. You never know with those shots, but I just liked the fact that we shared the ball. We had a lot more assists than we usually do. At the end of the game I love it when guys trust. At the end of the game it’s amazing how when you share it a lot more of the shots go in.”
On what the win means for his program …
“It has been an up and down non-conference for us for a lot of reasons. Injuries, games missed, tough losses and good wins. I am thankful to be seven and seven, but it is not what I envisioned. I think LSU is a quality team with one of the best coaches in the country, and any time you can beat an SEC team on the road it is a big win for the Utah program.”