BATON ROUGE — Alabama scored 30 points off turnovers, as the SEC West-leading Crimson Tide turned away the homestanding LSU men’s basketball team on Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, 67-56.
LSU trailed by only four and had possession with less than four minutes to play, but Ralston Turner was called for a charge and the Tigers failed to score again.
Turner scored a game-high 17 points for the Tigers, which could not take advantage of any momentum during the contest. The Tigers missed 10-of-23 free throws and committed 17 turnovers in a ninth-straight loss.
LSU (10-16, 2-9 SEC) returns to action on Sunday at noon CT when Florida visits the PMAC for an ESPN telecast. Alabama improved to 17-8 overall and 9-2 in the SEC.
Alabama’s JaMychal Green overcame foul trouble late in the game to score a game-high 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting. Guard Trevor Releford added 15 points, while forward Tony Mitchell scored 13.
For the Tigers, Malcolm White scored 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting but struggled with leg cramps late. Garrett Green added 10 points and seven rebounds while Storm Warren had a game-high eight rebounds despite playing just 10 minutes due to foul trouble.
LSU finished 20-of-47 shooting for 42 percent, while Alabama was 25-of-58 shooting for 43 percent.
The sides combined to miss the first nine shots before LSU earned a 7-0 lead by forcing the tempo and scoring in transition. Turner scored seven of LSU’s first nine points by making his first three field goals.
LSU extended its advantage to eight on a three-point play by Garrett Green and consecutive baskets by White. Guard Chris Bass forced the pace for a transition layup that gave LSU a 20-12 lead with 9:52 left in the half, as LSU found success when it was able to break the Alabama pressure.
Alabama’s Green converted a three-point play, a second-chance dunk an a layup off a steal near midcourt to bring the Tide within one, 22-21, and force LSU head coach Trent Johnson to take a timeout.
Turner split three defenders for a bank shot before White added two free throws that gave the Tigers some breathing room, 26-21, with 6:27 on the first-half clock. Alabama then rolled off seven-straight points including a Steele three pointer to take its first lead of the contest, 28-26, with 4:44 left in the half.
In the closing minute, White missed a dunk that would have tied the game. Coming out of a timeout, the Tide’s Chris Hines was able to convert a three-point play for a 36-31 halftime lead.
The Tigers led for more than 15 minutes before the Crimson Tide finished the half on a 14-5 run over the final six minutes.
LSU shot a blazing 56.6 percent (13 of 23) from the field in the first half, but missed 5-of-9 free throws and committed eight turnovers that led to 14 Alabama points.
A 1-of-5 start by LSU allowed Alabama to take a 41-32 lead in the opening minutes of the second half.
A three pointer by Turner and a three-point play by Aaron Dotson brought the Tigers back to life and within four, and point guard Andre Stringer’s first point of the game cut the deficit to three, 44-41.
Still down three with 12:43 to play, Warren picked up his fourth foul. However, the Tigers were able to hang with the Tide and get within two, 50-48, after three Stringer free throws with 9:26 to play.
Just as the Tigers looked to gain momentum, a short jumper by Alabama’s Green and a three pointer by Mitchell had LSU down seven, 55-48.
A three-pointer from the right corner by LSU’s Matt Derenbecker got the Tigers within four, 60-56, with under four minutes to play. But, after an Alabama miss, Turner drove the right baseline and was called for a charge just before the final media timeout that would prove to be the dagger.
The turnover proved costly, as Alabama scored the next seven points to seal the victory.
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON
Opening Statement…
“I think it is self explanatory. We had eight turnovers at the half and eight turnovers in the second half. It seemed like they capitalized off of each one and they have 30 points off of turnovers. They are a very good basketball team. They know how to execute and they know exactly where they want to go with the ball. They get you in isolations and JaMychal Green is a special player. I thought the start of the second half we executed how we wanted. We had a point blank screen and role, Malcolm White missed a short layup, came back, got the ball back in the lane, and Garrett came over the top and should have laid it up. Those kind of things kind of snowballed and they got a little cushion. When they have a cushion, it gets really hard for us because we have a hard time guarding the post and guarding the perimeter. I thought (Trevor) Releford did a good job in the first half when we had a lead and he had a crucial steal and a three-point play. For the most part it was turnovers. Not looking at the tape, some of them were unforced and some of them was the constant pressure tending to wear off on you. The positives were I felt Ralston (Turner) did a good job of keeping us into things. For the most part, I thought that Malcolm’s (White) energy was good. He was relentless and gave us a post presence.”
On Alabama’s defense being the problem…
“Without looking at the tape no. Again I want to go back to second half. At the start of the second half we got a good three from Ralston (Turner). And then they cheated out on the perimeter. We had a screen and roll play and Malcolm (White) had an uncontested layup and he missed it. Garrett (Green) came off of a rebound situation and I don’t know what he was trying to do, but he missed it. With a team like ours, whose margin of error is small, versus a team like that who has constant pressure, it tends to wear on you. I think a lot of it has to do with growing pains. Growing pains versus good players and good teams.”
On if Alabama’s pressure got to them…
“No. I say that because in timeouts the word I want to use is some looks of doubt. Alabama started to make a push in the first half when I thought guys were sticking their nose in there. When I say looks of doubt, obviously when you’ve been through what we’ve been through guys are lacking some confidence. Eddie (Ludwig) misses two free throws. That is very uncharacteristic of him. Like I told them, you’ve got to continue to fight.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On his role as a more experienced team member in this stretch …
“A lot of the young guys were looking at each other, and we are trying to figure out how to get a win. We are telling them to stay calm and focused, keep on working, keep on getting better and improving your game. We are telling these young guys to just come out and compete.”
On the team’s younger players …
“We are very young at the guard position, but I think they are playing well. I think that most of the SEC teams we are playing against have guards that have two or three years more experience than our guys. We just have to keep playing to get that experience. Sooner or later, we will get this together.”
On the teams practices …
“We practice hard. We have good practices. We are just trying to take that and carry it over into the game. I see a lot of improvements in the guards. We have improved a lot at the point of attack with the defense. We just have to keep working and grind it out.”
On Alabama taking the lead …
“We had a few good looks, and especially within the last four or five minutes, and we just didn’t execute well. That was the difference.”
On Alabama’s pressure …
“It wasn’t so much the pressure. At times, it kind of got sped up. For the most part, it was just a lack of making shots in the last five or six minutes. They didn’t go down for us.”
On going up against Alabama …
“Alabama is a good team, and we knew what we had coming into the game. We tried to match that physicality. I think for the most part we did a good job, but the guys on their team did a good job making plays.”
ALABAMA HEAD COACH ANTHONY GRANT
Opening Statement …
“I’m proud of our guys. Obviously any road win is a good win. I thought tonight LSU game out with great energy, and I have to give them credit because they came out and hit first tonight. They came out with great energy and knocked us back, but I thought our guys responded well. At halftime we made some adjustments from the defensive standpoint. I’m proud of the way the guys fought, stuck together and found a way to win.”
On the team staying together after the slow start …
“I felt like we were getting good looks, I think in the first possession we have five good looks at the rim but none of them went down. Sometimes that can be a deflator. I think we had the same situation at Auburn earlier in the season, and we talked about not letting offensive efficiency affect our defensive intensity and focus. Tonight I thought we did that early, it was out of character for us and they got some wide-open looks. Give them credit because they were knocking them down early. They really hurt us in a lot of areas, whether we were in man or in zone or the press. When they got through our first wave they were able to get open looks and they took advantage of it. We had to make some adjustments, and the think I was proud of is we weren’t playing well in the first half, but our guys found ways to make plays and we got the lead there at the half. We were fortunate to be up five. I thought in the second half we made the adjustments. Andre (Stringer), Ralston (Turner) and certainly Malcolm (White) had good games. It wasn’t one of our better games, we turned the ball over unnecessarily and tried to make some plays that weren’t there, but you have to be proud of your guys that they found the resolve to come away with the win.”
Alabama Player Quotes
Alabama Forward JaMychal Green
On the start of the game …
“I knew coming in that it was going to be a physical game. When we played LSU at home, I got into an altercation and I did not want that to happen again. I knew I just needed to keep my head and keeping playing on the defensive end.”
On the defensive pressure …
“We are a good team when we get into transition and we like to run. That is our game – getting turnovers and turning them into points. I think we did a great job of doing that tonight.”
On LSU coming out playing well …
“We knew coming in that they were going to come out with lots of energy and play tough. Everyone has pride and nobody wants to get blown out on their home court on national television, so they came out and gave us a good fight.”
Alabama Guard Andrew Steele
On playing extended minutes tonight …
“It has been a long road, but to finally get back to the point where I do not have to worry about how my body feels is nice.”
On the defensive adjustments …
“They shot 56 percent from the field in the first half and then they shot 29 percent in the second half. We knew that if we continued to rebound that everything would take care of itself. Just like the first game against LSU, we were able to get turnovers and get out into transition. That really helped us tonight.”