LSU men's and women hoopers hit the road for SEC away games

Tigers’ men’s coach Matt McMahon takes his squad (12-2, 1-1 SEC) to Texas A&M (9-5, 1-0 SEC) for a 5 p.m. CT Saturday game televised by the SEC Network.

Then on Sunday, the No. 7 Lady Tigers (15-0, 3-0 SEC) seek to break the school record for most consecutive wins to start a season as they travel to Kentucky (8-7, 0-3 SEC) for a 1 p,m, CT tipoff on SEC Network +.

McMahon’s Tigers are coming off a gritty 74-71 Tuesday loss at Kentucky in which LSU missed a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer after trailing by 10 points with just under 11 minutes left to play.

“I thought we ran good offense,” McMahon said. “We just did a poor job of finishing some plays, but we didn't turn the ball over.

“A big key to being more efficient offensively is taking care of the ball. You look at the first two SEC games we have 19 turnovers combined. That's a good number for us. Our execution was much improved on the offensive end.”

Graduate forward KJ Williams continues as LSU’s offensive rock. He ranks second in the SEC in scoring (18.8 ppg), seventh in rebounding (7.6 rpg) and fourth in field goal percentage (.556).

The Tigers are getting a big effort off the bench from senior transfer guard Trae Hannibal, who averages 6.1 points and 4.1 rebounds in 20 minutes per game. He’s averaging 15.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in SEC play.

“We're almost at the halfway point now, so it's really a waste of time to talk any more about 12 new guys on the roster,” McMahon said. “The first couple games of the year, we clearly looked like just a bunch of guys thrown together trying to figure it out.

“We still have a long way to go there, but I am pleased with the progress and how hard we need to work in how we prepare for games.”

Texas A&M opened SEC play Wednesday with a 66-63 win at Florida. It was the Aggies’ third straight win after a stretch of losing three of four games.

A&M is powered by the guard trio of Wade Taylor IV (15.8 ppg), former Baton Rouge McKinley High star Tyrece Bradford (12.8 ppg) and Henry Coleman (10.4 pgg).

The Aggies rank No. 1 nationally in free throws attempted and made per game. Texas A&M has shot 16 more FTs than any other SEC team and 100 plus more than seven SEC teams. A&M averages 19.4-26.5 FTM-FTA per game. Radford ranks No. 1 in the SEC in FTs made (65) and Taylor is at No. 2 with 62.

LSU has won 10 consecutive times over the Aggies dating back to A&M’s win in Baton Rouge in Feb. 2017.

The Lady Tigers head to Lexington as the Division 1 leader in scoring offense (91.2 ppg), scoring margin (41.1) and rebounding margin (24.3).

LSU is coming off Thursday’s 74-34 SEC home blowout of Texas A&M in which sophomore forward Angel Reese scored 26 points and grabbed a school single-game record 28 rebounds.

The runaway win didn’t totally please LSU second-year head coach Kim Mulkey. She noted her team’s sloppy start (8 first-quarter points) and lackluster finish (allowing 8 points in the final 2:05).

“We are more talented than the last two opponents (LSU beat Vandy by 25 on Sunday), so you can slop around and win those games,” Mulkey said. “But that doesn’t win you championships, that doesn’t allow you to become an elite program.

“It starts with leadership. I just felt like we didn't have just that leader that could energize us on the floor, that leader that could just direct traffic out there.”

Though Kentucky has yet to win an SEC game and has an almost all-new starting lineup compared to last season, the Wildcats should have LSU’s attention.

One of the Lady Tigers’ losses last year in a 26-6 season was getting steamrolled 78-63 by Kentucky in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.

UK’s primary stars from a year ago have graduated. The current Wildcats are led by guards Robyn Benton (16.7 ppg), Jada Walker (12.9) and Oregon transfer Maddie Scherr (7.9 ppg, 5.8 rpg).

Kentucky’s top player off the bench is LSU junior transfer forward Ajae Petty, who’s averaging 7.2 points and 5.7 rebounds. She played 31 games in two LSU seasons.