Onslaught of Alabama Threes Doom LSU Basketball From the Start in 105-75 Loss

The hype surrounding LSU's matchup with No. 18 Alabama lived up to the billing. Students lined up around the building, all the way back to Mike the Tiger's habitat with the hopes of seeing the much anticipated battle up close and personal.

But those who were in attendance and happened to watch the first half on TV walked away absolutely dismayed at what took place. Alabama came out with one of the hottest starts to a game you'll ever see, draining 12 of its first 17 three-point attempts to build a 26-point lead on the Tigers (10-3, 5-2) and coast to a 105-75 win in the PMAC.

It became clear from the first five minutes of the game this simply was going to be a historic night not in LSU's favor. The Crimson Tide opened the game with a 20-4 run headlined by a red hot 4-for-4 start from three by forward John Petty. Alabama would go on to drain an SEC record 23 three pointers for the game.

Petty drained his first seven three pointers of the evening and his teammates fed off that energy and hot start. Guards Joshua Primo and Jahvon Quinerly combined for seven first-half threes which was all the damage the Crimson Tide needed to build out a 28-point halftime lead on the Tigers.

Will Wade came into the game saying the transition defense from LSU needed to be at its best this season and that simply just wasn't the case. It didn't help that 12 turnovers led 14 points off turnovers or that the Crimson Tide scored 18 fast break points.

Wade said after the game that the next few days will be important to learn from what went wrong in this particular game but that he believes in his team, while in the same breath pinning the loss on him.

“When something like this happens, reality is we’ve been very good in league play so our routine and what we do works,” Wade said. “Sometimes when you get blown off your feet, you want to change everything and that’s not the answer.”

“The answer is we stick to what we do, we gotta do it a lot better so we’ll stick to our normal routine. I believe in our players, we came unglued tonight including the head coach. But we’ll get it back together.”

LSU's offense, which had been tops in the league for all of SEC play, looked discombobulated and as Alabama went on its run, quickly became hero ball. Ball movement was non-existent as the Tigers fell into that isolation ball trap to try and stop the bleeding. As a result, LSU shot just 37.5% from the field in the first half and had less made field goals (13) then Alabama had made three pointers (14).

While the second half wasn't at the gobsmacking level of the first, the Crimson Tide continued to find open shots on the perimeter and knock them down. For the game, Alabama finished 23-of-43 from three-point range and extended the lead to 43 points at one point behind Petty's game high 24 points.

For the Tigers, freshman Cam Thomas scored a team high 21 points while Trendon Watford added 11 more.

"We gotta come out and fight hard, bring a lot of energy," gauard Javonte Smart said. "The day before the game, we've gotta prepare better and just come out and be ready to fight."

LSU will have to pick itself up quickly with Kentucky on Saturday. The leadership of this locker room will be tested after such a rough performance and the Tigers can't afford to let tonight's performance spiral.