SEC: LSU Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs are losing at the wrong time

By Courtney Smith | Feb 18, 2015

LSU suffered another heartbreaking loss last night on the road in the Southeastern Conference to Texas A&M, 68-62. The Tigers lost to a cooler, more humbled Aggies team that’s led by Danuel House and Jalen Jones.

Jones sealed the game with two late free throws, but the story of the game in College Station, TX was House, who set the tone early in the game, knocking down his first three shots from long range and helped Texas A&M jump out to an early 21-10 lead. House finished with 18 points. LSU (18-8, 7-6 SEC) held a 59-58 lead with 5:20 remaining and lost its lead for good after Kourtney Roberson‘s made basket put the Aggies up by two.

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Texas A&M’s defense did a great job of smothering Jordan Mickey, who finished the night with six points and four rebounds. His sidekick, Jarell Martin, had 13 points and grabbed six rebounds but was on the bench for a bulk of the second half due to foul trouble. Brian Bridgewater stepped in for him and did pretty well, adding nine points and six rebounds to the team’s stat line.

But, it still wasn’t enough to get a much-needed win on the road.

Roberson had a solid night, finishing with 16 points and 11 rebounds. When House couldn’t make a basket, Roberson did. In all honesty, the Aggies could have won by double figures if they could have shot a better percentage from the free throw line. Shooting 54 percent (14-of-26) in one game will not beat Arkansas, Ole Miss, or Kentucky in the SEC tournament.

The Aggies are ranked 305^th in the nation in free throw percentage (65 percent).

Despite the poor free throw shooting, Texas A&M (18-7, 9-4) helped its tournament resume, improving to 2-5 against teams in the top 50 RPI and getting to nine wins in the SEC, the Aggies best since joining the league in the 2012-13 season. As for the Tigers, they can’t find ways to finish off their opponents. In their loss against the No. 1 Wildcats, they held a 66-60 lead with 7:29 left and lost 71-69.

With solid talent on one roster and an unstoppable frontcourt (Mickey and Martin), the LSU Tigers are having trouble finishing games against teams who are just as good as they are. Maybe coach Johnny Jones is losing his team mentally or maybe the Tigers are not as good as people thought they were. Well, LSU heads back home Saturday to take on a Florida team who’s been up and down this season with injuries and team chemistry issues.

I expect the Tigers to win this one, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they lost. At this point, I am not sure if this team wants to go dancing in March.

Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia (16-9, 7-6) lost to a South Carolina team Tuesday night that’s not so good and sits in the bottom half of the conference. The Gamecocks, at one point, were up by 21 points and allowed the Bulldogs to cut it to 45-36. But Tyrone Johnson and Duane Notice each scored 17 points to help South Carolina (13-12, 4-9) win in the end. With the win, the Gamecocks complete the season sweep of Georgia, which suffered its second straight loss to a team with a losing SEC record.

Auburn (12-14, 4-9) defeated the Bulldogs 69-68 on Saturday. These type of losses are hurting Georgia’s chances of making the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs and the LSU Tigers are in the same boat: Losing big games at the wrong time of the year.

Maybe Georgia will figure things out. If not, there’s always the NIT.

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