Three starters missing, LSU claws its way to an SEC win over Texas A&M
LSU starting point guard Eric Gaines missed two layups and two free throws and was whistled for a foul in the first three minutes of Wednesday’s SEC battle royal vs. Texas A&M.
Then in the game’s last 3½ minutes, he made 6 of 6 free throws, grabbed two defensive rebounds and blocked a game-tying dunk with 23 seconds left as the 18th ranked Tigers closed with a 13-2 run for a 70-64 victory before a roaring Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 10,929.
If there is a poster boy for the all-over-the-place far from imperfect just win baby style of 2021-22 LSU basketball, it’s Gaines who operates under Newton’s third law of motion that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
“We just had to get the win, we couldn’t lose another one at home,” said Gaines of the victory that snapped LSU’s three-game losing streak and improved the Tigers to 16-4 overall and 4-4 in the SEC.
LSU dug deep for one of its hardest-fought wins in recent seasons. Senior starting point guard Xavier Pinson missed his fifth straight game with a sprained knee and senior forward Darius Days sat out for the first time this season with a sprained ankle.
If that wasn’t enough to overcome, Tigers’ forward Tari Eason made his first start of the season but sat out chunks of the second half including the final 6:53 with cramps. He left the game with 14 points, a team-high 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.
It left LSU playing with freshmen Brandon Murray, Alex Fudge, Justice Williams and Efton Reid, sophomores Gaines and Mwani Wilkinson and oft-injured junior forward Shareef O’Neal.
Murray scored a career-high 21 points, including 3 of 5 3-pointers. Gaines finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 0 turnovers. O’Neal, who has spent 1½ seasons nursing a foot injury since transferring from UCLA, scored 7 points including a 3-pointer and grabbed 3 rebounds in a career-high 20:21 playing time. Wilkinson’s only shot attempt of the night was a game-tying 3-pointer at 64-64 with 1:18 left and LSU never trailed again.
“Gaines was great, Murray was great,” LSU coach Will Wade said. “Those guys stepped up, made plays and made things happen. Shareef made some big plays for us. When you’re down a bunch of guys, you’ve got to have guys step up like that.”
The biggest lead for each team was six points. Neither LSU or A&M had a scoring run of more than nine points.
The final stats reflected the even desperation and perspiration both the Tigers and Aggies brought to the table.
LSU shot 42.6 percent from the field, A&M 40.4 percent. The Tigers missed 11 free throws (but made their last 10 consecutive). LSU scored 19 points off 18 A&M turnovers and the Aggies scored 16 points off 18 LSU turnovers. The Tigers outrebounded A&M 38-30 including 12 second chance points off 15 offensive rebounds while the Aggies scored 13 second chance points off 12 offensive boards.
“I felt that although they (A&M) were in a game that was competitive and physical, there were too many 50/50 type balls, unclean rebounds, 50/50 loose balls on the ground, and possible jump balls,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said.
Quenton Jackson led the Aggies with 20 points and was part of a trio with Andre Gordon (18 points) and Baton Rouge native Tyrece Radford (14 points) that combined for all nine of A&M’s 3-pointers.
However, the Aggies missed their last 11 of 14 shots including five 3-pointers and five drives to the basket. The biggest miss was actually Gaines swooping out of nowhere and blocking Marcus Williams' attempted game-tying dunk with 23 seconds left.
“I saw him (Williams) by himself and went for it even though I had four fouls,” Gaines said. “I had to make that attempt. And I did. I got the block and sealed the game at the free throw line.”