3 keys from that LSU/USC Bball game...

1. Depth. LSU has none. Poa played roughly 3-4 minutes total. Del Rosario played a fair amount due to early foul trouble from Morrow and late foul trouble from Angel. She didn't play bad at all, but she's not ready for that kind of minutes against a player like Cardosa. Considering that she's a freshman who has a lot of work to do and Cardosa is the best big in college right now, I'd say she played pretty well. LSU's two combined for 4 points on 4 shots. South Carolina played 9 girls, and their bench provided 16 points on 10 shots. Towards the end of the game, SC starters had rested legs and were making jumpshots and driving right past LSU defenders, neither of which they were doing early in the game. I 100% believe that fatigue was a factor down the stretch. I'm pretty sure Flaujae never once left the game, HVL came out for 1 possession before Poa turned it over and she was sent back in, Williams sat for maybe 2 min when Poa was in the first time. Morrow sat for a decent bit of the 2nd quarter and never came out in the 2nd half. Angel played whole first half and ended up missing about 10 minutes of the 2nd half.

2. Foul Trouble. SC never got in foul trouble whatsoever. Only one player ever got 3, and that was a sub who only provided 2 points. There were 100% some very bad missed calls that should have been fouls against Cardosa and some of the SC starters, while there were some very soft ticky-tack calls against LSU. That being said, 2 of Angel's fouls came immediately after HVL turned the ball over on inbounds plays, and another came after HVL didn't get the ball to her early enough, help ended up getting over there, and Angel picked up a foul trying to get the ball. Those were all legit fouls and self inflicted.

3. LSU's x-factor scorers didn't score efficiently enough. HVL made a couple big shots when we needed them, but she was 5/13 shooting. She wasn't terrible by any means, but in order to beat SC, we needed her going. Mikaylah Williams was the bigger problem. She was incredible inefficient taking a bunch of step back 3s and shots that she is very capable of hitting, but was not hitting them at all. Some were desperation trying to bail out the offense when it stalled, but some were bad decisions. When she got going towards the basket, she wasn't bad. 5/18 isn't enough for her talent level. Morrow was efficient, and was great early on and then got in foul trouble and had to sit most of the 2nd quarter. In the 3rd quarter, she scored a couple times but was not a focal point of the offense. She was our best player tonight and didn't touch the ball near enough down the stretch. When she did touch it, we scored, whether it was her scoring or her drawing attention to get somebody else open. Flaujae wasn't bad on the offensive end, but playing against SC isn't good for what she does. She wants to get to the basket and finish there, which is hard as hell against a team like SC who is so good inside.


All in all, LSU's depth and foul trouble was what cost them the game when it was all said and done. Even with the 2 guards having bad nights shooting, there might be 2 teams in the entire nation that could have beat LSU tonight, and SC is one of them. It's not a terrible loss for LSU. LSU can see them again in the SEC tourney, and who knows what happens when it's tournament time. Like I said, there are very few teams in the country talented enough to match up with LSU, even with the depth issues...avoid those couple teams and this team can make another very deep run and bring the entire team back next year possibly while adding some depth to complete the team.