PROGRESS MADE

Three improvements made in Saturday’s loss to Texas Tech amid losses

BY HENRY HUBER @HenryHuber_

Talking positives when a team just suffered its eighth straight loss is not a normality by any means, but they are worth noting for a few reasons.

While a tournament run isn’t likely, picking up a few wins towards the end of the season could provide the team with momentum heading into the next one and seeing head coach Matt McMahon make strong adjustments would be a good sign.

Texas Tech hasn’t been an amazing team but it also bore the brunt of an eight-game stretch where six of its opponents were and still are ranked, most of which are ranked inside the top 15. It did so with varying degrees of success, with close losses to No. 9 Kansas, No. 11 TCU and No. 10 Texas being overshadowed by bad ones to No. 12 Iowa State and unranked West Virginia.

It was missing two key players in guard Pop Isaacs and forward Fardaws Aimaq, but it was still going to be a challenge for the Tigers no matter what. And though they didn’t play amazingly, especially towards the end of the game, there were still improvements made that are worth discussing.

Fast Start

The biggest talking point regarding LSU men’s basketball has been its lack of scoring since starting SEC play. Between its 71-point showing against Kentucky, where

Football

it put up a solid 38 points in the first half, and its game versus Texas Tech, the team averaged less than 54 points per game.

One of the main reasons for that was sluggish starts in the first half. That’s a problem that began popping up even before conference play, particularly in its Power 6 matchup against Wake Forest, where the Demon Deacons went up by 20 early due to a lack of urgency on both sides of the ball. And those sluggish starts have been a staple of this losing streak.