BATON ROUGE – Jordan Mickey collected 18 points, eight rebounds and equaled a career-high with seven blocks, but the LSU men’s basketball team was handed a 67-64 setback by Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon at the Maravich Center.
For Mickey, he was 7-of-12 from the floor and has reached double figures in 14 of 17 games this season. Over his last two outings, Mickey has tallied 13 blocked shots.
LSU (13-4, 2-2 SEC) was unable to hold an 11-point advantage during the last 10 minutes, and the Aggies (11-5, 2-2 SEC) tallied 20 of the final 26 points to come away with the three-point win.
Off the bench, Jalyn Patterson secured 13 points and two steals. He was 5-of-8 shooting highlighted by a trio of three-pointers. Patterson has tallied 10-plus points in three of his four SEC appearances.
Jarell Martin added 12 points, eight rebounds and matched a career-best with four assists over his 37 minutes of action. Josh Gray filled the box score with nine points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The Tigers led for 35:22 of the contest and took a 58-47 lead at the 9:49 mark of the second half after Martin took the ball at the top of the key, executed a spin move and hit an off-balanced driving layup.
Texas A&M chipped away and pulled within 62-61 with 4:26 remaining after Danuel House buried a three-pointer. LSU would go back up by three as Quarterman found Keith Hornsby for a layup in transition to make it 64-61 with 1:58 to go.
The Aggies used a six-point flurry in the closing minutes and took the lead at 65-64 as House drained a stepback, 17-foot fadeaway jumper with 22.6 seconds remaining.
On LSU’s ensuing possession, House made a key steal and converted on two free throws to extend the A&M advantage to 67-64 with eight seconds left.
LSU had an opportunity to send the game to overtime, but Hornsby’s deep triple from the right wing rimmed in-and-out which enabled the Aggies to claim their first true road win of the season.
House registered a game-leading 18 points on a 7-for-15 shooting performance. The Aggies also received 18 points and nine rebounds courtesy of Jalen Jones.
Texas A&M knocked down its first four shots and jumped out to a 9-2 edge during the opening two minutes of the game.
The Tigers found their rhythm and responded with a season’s best 14 straight points to go up 16-9 at the 14:00 minute mark. The Martin-Mickey combination ripped off 14 of LSU’s opening 16 points.
LSU stretched its lead to 25-16 after a Quarterman trey set up by a Gray dribble drive and kick with 9:52 remaining. The Tigers would carry a 40-32 advantage into the locker room as Hornsby drained a triple as the buzzer sounded.
As a team, LSU tallied a 25-of-64 shooting effort which included a 7-for-23 mark from beyond the three-point arc. The Tigers were 7-of-11 at the free throw line.
A big difference for LSU was that the Tigers misfired on 13 of their 14 three-point attempts in the second half after going 6-of-10 from three-point territory during the first 20 minutes.
LSU looks to bounce back at Florida as part of ESPN’s Super Tuesday coverage. Tipoff is on-tap for 6 p.m. CT from the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The game will be televised by ESPN along with www.WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app.
The LSU Sports Radio Network also will broadcast the game on Eagle 98.1 FM in the Baton Rouge area and inside the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net/live. Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and Kevin Ford will call the action
For all of the latest news and information on Tiger basketball, visit www.lsusports.net/basketball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets atwww.Facebook.com/lsubasketball along with @LSUBasketball and @LSUCoachJones on Twitter and @LSUBasketball on Instagram.
LSU Men’s Basketball Postgame Quotes
LSU vs. Texas A&M – January 17, 2015
HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening Statement …
“I thought our guys came out and had a really good first half. I thought we finished the first half on a good note with momentum and knocking down a huge shot prior to halftime. We came back out in the second half the same and established ourselves early in the first three or four minutes. But as we got up 10-11 points, I thought we didn’t really focus and value the possessions like we needed to. The things that allowed us to get up 10-11 points, we did not continue to do. We did not value. Offensively, we took some quick shots—three’s. I think we went for four three’s in a row, instead of getting the ball to the basket. On the defensive end of the floor, we did not do a great job of handling them and transitioning and getting stops, which allowed them some easy scoring opportunities. We didn’t take the ball to the basket like we needed to, only shooting 11 free throws today. We did not put enough pressure on Texas A&M to have to defend the rim. I have to credit them. I thought they did a great job playing down the stretch and making the necessary shots to get out of here unfortunately with the victory today. We unfortunately did not do a great job of taking advantage of our tremendous crowd who showed up early this morning to cheer us on and watch us play.”
On whether he’s more concerned with the shot selection on offense or allowing them to get back in the game defensively …
“I’m really just concerned more with the game. When you talk about valuing possessions, be it offensively or defensively, you have to make sure that each possession is a positive possession. They’re going to hold the ball, and we have to defend to the end of the clock. Then, we have to make sure we finish with good, strong rebounds. That’s on both ends of the floor: Executing offensively, making sure that we make the necessary pass. If we have to, get into the clock and force your opponent to guard you. We didn’t do that.”
On the shot selection in the second half …
“I think it has a lot to do with the youthfulness of our team and the lack of understanding. If you get up 10 or 11, instead of grinding it and making the next play, we feel like we have to make a home run play on that next possession and try to put people away. You just can’t play that way. It’s possession by possession. We’ll continue to grow and continue to learn, but it’s painful to have setbacks like this when you have great opportunities.”
On the team learning from the outcome of the game …
“You learn from your mistakes, and you have an opportunity to grow from them. The last two games I think we put ourselves in position to be able to grind it and do the things necessary there at the end. Tonight, unfortunately, it cost us. I think that when you hurt and have pain from setbacks like that, you learn from it and you get better.”
On his opinion of the crowd …
“I was absolutely excited about it with an 11 a.m. tip time today. They came out last game against Georgia and continue to grow. The excitement and energy that they brought in the building is certainly encouraging.”
On Darcy Malone‘s contribution …
“I thought Darcy did an excellent job of giving us some positive plays and playing positive minutes when he was out there on the floor. He didn’t do anything to hurt himself in terms of us counting on him going forward.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
FORWARD JORDAN MICKEY
On today’s loss against Texas A&M…
“It was a tough game. Basketball is a game of runs. They made their run at the end of the game, and we didn’t rebound the ball like we needed to. We didn’t take smart shots.”
On losing on their home court…
“Nobody wants to lose on their home court. I believe we should be undefeated at home, but that can’t always happen. We just need to bounce back and continue with the rest of the season.”
On LSU’s turnovers in the second half…
“They cost us big time. We had some unforced turnovers at the end. There were unnecessary turnovers we shouldn’t have had and some bad shots.”
On the difference between LSU’s first half and second half…
“First half, we were 10 assists on 15 buckets. I don’t know what happened second half. We took some bad shots. We needed to get to the paint and try to get the foul to make plays.”
GUARD JALYN PATTERSON
On today’s loss to Texas A&M…
“We got up and started taking bad shots, and they came back. We were pulling three’s and things like that. They were getting layups on the other end and just chipping away. We were just trying to extend the lead. We get up, we get anxious and we want to extend the lead by 20. We have to stay strong during that time.”
On what Johnny Jones said to the team after the game…
“He told us we can’t lose at home like that. We can’t let a team beat us in our own house. We have to do better throughout the game when we have the lead. Now, we just have to bounce back.”
On bouncing back after losing at home…
“It starts with us. When we are out there on the floor, we have to stay mentally locked in. We have to play the whole game like we play in the first half.”
Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Kennedy
Opening Statement…
“Great road win against a very good LSU basketball team that plays good defense. In the second half, I thought we did a good job of making the extra pass, especially in the last 10 minutes. Their shot blockers, their size and their defense were giving us a lot of problems, but our guys trusted each other and executed in the second half.”
On Texas A&M’s second half defense…
“They shot the ball extremely well, and I was hoping over the course of the game that they would not shoot as well. I think they made six three-pointers in the first half, and the shot at the end of the half (a Keith Hornsby three-pointer) was a big shot that they executed. They were playing as well as anybody we’ve played against this year in the first half. I thought we played well, but they shot the ball well and were really good.”
On Danuel House and Jalen Jones performances…
“They were tough, and they do a good job for us. They were unselfish in the second half, attacked the basket and did a better job of attacking the basket when they needed to instead of just settling for jump shots. They shared the ball, which was good to see. I thought Alex Robinson was key for us. He played good defense, had six assists, six points and six rebounds. He did a great job for a freshman to come in on the road like that against a good team. All of our guys gave us something positive.”
On the impact of this win for Texas A&M’s season…
“I haven’t won here in a long time. This is home for me so it’s a special win all the way around. For our team, it’s our first true road win of the season so that maybe takes some pressure off of us. Now we know we can win on the road so we’ve got to continue playing that well and get better as we go.”
Texas A&M Forward Danuel House
On Texas A&M’s last possession…
“The play was initially for me to come off over the top for a three and if it was open then take it. I saw that they jumped out to me though so I just drove and then they switched, so I just stepped back and took the shot.
On the impact of this win…
“It’s just a confidence booster. It shows everyone in our conference that Texas A&M is coming to fight no matter what.”
On what they did to limit Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey in the second half…
“We just tried to limit them to one shot and then box them out as hard as we can. Mickey and Martin are great offensive rebounders so limiting LSU to one shot was the game plan.”
On the team defense in the second half…
“We came out and just locked in. We talked to each other and said focus on defense and offense will handle itself.”
On Texas A&M’s improved shooting in the second half…
“Credit the point guards because they were dribbling in and making our guys collapse which gave us open looks. Also, credit to the big men for setting the screens to get our players open.”