Searching for answers, Aggies eye season sweep of struggling LSU

You think you’ve got problems?

That question rife with sarcasm could come from LSU when Texas A&M arrives in Baton Rouge for a Southeastern Conference basketball clash on Saturday night.

A&M (11-10, 3-6 in the SEC) certainly has its issues. However, next to LSU the Aggies are doing quite well.

“Teams have been able to jump on them because they haven’t won they don’t believe they can win," A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. "But if you keep it a six- or eight-point game or they get up on you in the beginning like Vandy got up on us, they’re capable of beating just about anybody in our league.

"All the coaches believe that because we believe they have really good talent. They’re just young. They haven’t been able to break the funk of losing.”

What a funk it’s been.

The won/loss record for LSU (9-12, 1-8) is bad enough. But how the Tigers have lost is even more troublesome. LSU is in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, and seven of those losses are by at least 13 points.

There was a 106-71 loss to Florida in that skid. They most recently endured a 25-point loss to South Carolina in which they committed 22 turnovers. In fact, LSU has committed more turnovers (306) than A&M (302).

The Tigers’ best inside player and leading rebounder — Craig Victor — left the team after eight games. LSU is the worst free throw shooting team in the SEC, and they struggle to take care of the basketball, too.

Next they face the Aggies, who beat them by 30 points, 92-62, on Jan. 11. And after that, LSU will travel to Kentucky.

Again Aggies … you think you’ve got problems?

Well … yes.

The Aggies have lost their last two games, and they are trying to back bounce from a season-low scoring output in a 68-54 loss to Vanderbilt in which they didn’t do anything particularly well.

Also, guard D.J. Hogg has been slowed with a foot injury and forward Robert Williams has had back spasms. Kennedy said both are feeling better and expects them to have improved performances against LSU.

“This game is more about our effort,” Aggies sophomore center Tyler Davis said. “We’re focused on ourselves. I think we know we have the better team, but it's about focusing on ourselves, going out and executing.

“We’re beating ourselves in little ways. Each game has to be about our effort, our intensity and our focus going into the game.”

Davis and Kennedy agreed that a big key for A&M is to get off to a fast start. The Aggies have frequently fallen behind early in recent games. Sometimes they’ve been able to battle back, but usually their rallies have come up short.

“We don’t want to dig ourselves into a hole, because it’s always tough to come back,” Davis said.

Kennedy echoed those sentiments.

“You get behind a Vandy team and it’s hard to catch up,” he said. “We’ve got to have a better start at LSU because LSU is a dangerous team searching for a win.

“We’ve got to get a better start, especially on the road. You can’t get down on the road big early or it's definitely hard to recover. No coach wants to be that first team going in there and they start making shots.”