GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The LSU Tigers, saddled with a tough offensive start and foul trouble to two of the cogs of its offense in the first 12 minutes, put LSU in a position it could not recover from in a 68-62 loss at the O’Connell Center here Saturday to the University of Florida.
The Tigers are now 9-6 and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference, while Florida is now 10-5 and 2-1 in the league.
LSU never led in the game and fell behind by as much as 10 in the first half. The Tigers climbed back to three at intermission and had the game down to one or two points six times in the second half but could never tie or take the lead on the Gators.
Ben Simmons led LSU with another double double of 28 points (7-of-15 shooting, 14-of-16 from the free throw line) with 17 rebounds and four assists, but eight of LSU’s 17 turnovers. Keith Hornsby was the only other Tigers in double figures with 10 points. Hornsby failed to hit a three-pointer for the first time this season, going 0-for-5 as LSU was just 3-of-20 from the arc.
Florida’s top three were balanced in scoring with Dorian Finney-Smith and Justin Leon getting 14 each and John Egbunu 13. The Gators were just 3-of-18 from the arc, but had just six turnovers.
LSU had a 50-38 advantage in rebounds, including a 24-12 advantage in the second half.
Florida scored 20 seconds into the game to get the lead off a Finney-Smith jumper and the lead was 5-0 as Finney-Smith got a three-point play on a foul by Tim Quarterman at the 18:41 mark of the first half. Quarterman was then called for an offensive foul on the next possession and he had to go to the bench for the remainder of the half.
Meanwhile, Hornsby picked up his second foul with 13:06 to go in the first half and sat for the rest of the half as the Tiger bench was called up.
Florida continued to keep LSU at bay, eventually forcing an LSU timeout after Kasey Hill had a layup and then a dunk with an LSU turnover in between to give the Gators a 25-15 advantage with 9:41 to go in the first half. It was a Devin Robinson dunk that gave Florida a 33-24 advantage with 3:44 to play, but Florida had only one point the remainder of the half while LSU got a Jalyn Patterson bucket, free throws by Antonio Blakeney and Simmons and a three-point play by Craig Victor II to make it 34-31 for Florida at the half.
With Hornsby and Quarterman back to open the half, Hornsby got two buckets around a Chris Chiozza layup to make it 36-35 Florida with 17:47 to play, but Florida got an Egbunu jumper and after two LSU misses, Finney-Smith hit a trey to push the lead back to six.
LSU got the margin by to two, 47-45, at the 12 minute mark on a Victor free throw, but after a Florida miss and an offensive foul on Simmons, Leon hit a trey to extend the game back to five, 50-45.
The Tigers got it again down to two on Simmons free throws, 54-52, with 6:08 to play, but Finney-Smith countered on the other end with free throws and after a two-miss LSU possession, Florida turned it on another Leon trey to make it 59-52 for the Gators with 5:05 left.
LSU made two more runs to within a bucket, getting it to 61-59 on a Simmons layup with 2:28 to play, but Egnubu hit two free throws to get it back to 63-59 at the 2:07 mark. Simmons would turn the ball over and Egbunu missed a jumper. Hornsby missed a three, but Simmons got the offensive rebounds, scored and made a free throw to cut the Florida margin to 63-62 with 1:12 to go.
But that was the last point the Tigers would score as Egbunu got a layup to make it 65-62 and three free throws wrapped up the game as LSU’s remaining possessions were two turnovers and a missed three-pointer.
LSU, the highest scoring team in the league entering the contest, shot just 35.7 percent for the game (10-of-30 in the first half, 10-of-26 in the second half, 20-of-56 for the game). Florida shot 24-of-63 for the game (38.1%) and just 17-of-30 at the line (56.7%). LSU was 19-of-27 from the stripe (70.4%).
Florida had a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Florida would score on 34-of-72 possessions, while LSU would score on just 30 of the 72 times it had the ball.
The Tigers play both games at home next week at the Maravich Assembly Center as the Tigers host Ole Miss at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2 and the LSU Sports Radio Network. LSU will host Arkansas on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at LSUtix.net.
POSTGAME QUOTES
LSU Head Coach Johnny Jones
Opening Statement…
“We knew coming in it would be a tough game for us. Florida had a very tough loss at Tennessee and we knew coming out that they would try to bounce back. They did a great job in the first half establishing the aggressiveness. They created some turnovers and made it very tough for us. We came back out in the second and had some great opportunities that we failed to take advantage of. Unfortunately, when we cut it to one or two late, we did not execute at the level we needed to.”
On the difference between playing at home and away…
“They’re a good basketball team and, unfortunately for them, they had a bad night where things just didn’t go their way in Knoxville. Tonight I thought they did an excellent job. They’re talented, and tonight they played that way and executed at the level they needed to.”
On being down three points at halftime…
“With the guys in foul trouble that we had, we felt that anything under ten was good for us. Tim [Quarterman] sat for 18 minutes and Keith [Hornsby] sat for quite some time. And both of those guys are really key elements of our team. We played without them for a considerable amount of time.”
On Florida’s early put-back scoring…
“It certainly set the tone. It was disappointing for us because one of the things we wanted to do was win the war on the boards. I think at halftime they may have had 11 offensive rebounds and we held them to 37% shooting in the first half. We were much better in the second half. They only had two offensive rebounds.”
Senior Guard Keith Hornsby
Overall thoughts on the Florida team…
“They had a lot of momentum. They came out really gunning for us, coming after us, and we responded exactly how we wanted to.”
On the team’s energy and performance…
“I don’t really think we had (a lack of) energy. You looked at the arena, it was going crazy. There was no way someone could come in there and not have any energy. I think we let a few things that didn’t go our way get to us, and we didn’t respond in the right way. But that’s how it goes on the road.”
Freshman Forward Ben Simmons
On his personal performance…
“I know I made a lot of plays where things didn’t turn out too well. I had a lot of turnovers and a lot of plays down the stretch were sort of my fault.”
On playing in the O’Dome…
“I love getting to play away and play in new environments, especially like this. It’s hard to play here and hard to win.”
On playing on the road after beating Kentucky at home…
“I think we came in a lot stronger, because it was a win against Kentucky and that’s always a hyped up game. It’s always easier to play at home because you have local support. Then you come to Florida where the fans are so close to you. I think that was a part of it. We came out with a slow start and never picked up the energy.”
Florida Head Coach Mike White
On if this game was a 180 from the last game against Tennessee…
“That was at least a 160 (laughs). We just played really, really hard, so I’m proud of that. We can control how hard we play and I’m very pleased with the effort, and it was going to take that type of effort just to have a chance. I’m amazed by Ben Simmons and I thought we did a pretty good job on him and he gets 28 (points) and 17 (rebounds) with four assists. What a talent he is. Wow.”
On what LSU team he was expecting…
“We really didn’t know what to expect. (Ben Simmons) has played differently in different games and (LSU is) so dangerous. I talked a lot about toeing that line in defending LSU, in terms of doing your best to slow them down collectively but not over-helping and allowing (Keith) Hornsby to add three or four threes to what Ben Simmons is going to do. You know (Simmons) is going to get to the foul line some, he’s going to get opportunities on put backs, he’s going to do something in transition. (Simmons is) terrific at drawing fouls. But you’re over helping and (Tim) Quarterman gets going, Antonio Blakeney gets going, so (LSU) is just really difficult to match up with. I thought we did a pretty good job on those other guys and as I go back and watch film, it will be interesting to evaluate what…I thought, a lot of times, we were trying to wall off Ben (Simmons) with two or three guys and I thought we toed that line pretty correctly. But he’s got that really quick first step and he’s big and strong and he’s just got a knack for drawing fouls.”
On Justin Leon and his performance…
“Justin was terrific. I didn’t expect him coming into the year—in big games—to come up and hit two big threes for us. I’m not surprised with his defensive performance. I know it sounds nuts, because (Ben) Simmons gets 28 (points) 17 (rebounds), but Justin moved his feet well and some of the better possessions we had in the game defensively were, in large part, due to him. He’s a really tough kid and gives his body to the team. Took two big charges, of course. And he spent a ton of time in the gym—a ton of time. He’s taken advantage of open looks that he gets because of Chris Chiozza’s passing ability and also because John Egbunu and Dorian Finney-Smith are good offensive
Florida Redshirt Senior Forward Dorian Finney-Smith
On the difference of free throws in the first half and second…
“Guys stepped up with confidence and made them. We have trust in each other that we can make them. We work hard in practice every day shooting free throws, so I’m happy to see our work show.”
Junior Forward Justin Leon
On if it’s more gratifying to hit a big three or take a charge…
“Take a charge. You get stopped, it gives you energy on defense, it causes your teammates to want to play harder. On the opposite end it gives us energy to go down the court and try to score.”
On the biggest thing for Florida heading into the next two road games…
“Mentally being prepared. Having it in our minds that this is a road game (and that) it isn’t going to be easy.”
On proving themselves with next two road games…
“The Tennessee game was very bad and this is the chance to show that we can get wins on the road. That’ll be the goal.”
Florida Redshirt Sophomore Center John Egbunu
On changed for him at the free throw line…
“I was missing the free throws at first, so it had to a little with me bending at the knees. The coaches told me that at halftime, and I just tried to make that adjustment. It was making my free throws a little bit short, and I was leaving it flat. He told me to put a little bit of air under it, and I tried to do that.
On closing the game out down the stretch…
“I think it was a team effort. I had an opportunity at the end of the game to step up and make some free throws, and I did that. Overall, I feel like we played well as a team; we played hard. A lot of guys gave us a lot of productive energy. It was a good team effort.”