Team #104 - LSU

The third day of the game allowed me to see my 104th Division One College Basketball teams. On this occasion, I saw the LSU Tigers take on the Iowa State Cyclones. LSU is the 3rd team that I have seen out of the Big East. The Tigers finished the regular season with a 22-11 record. They were given a six seed by NCAA committee. The biggest headline surrounding LSU is the firing of head coach Will Wade. Not many times does a tourney team fire it's head coach. The firing is due to five Level I NCAA violations that have yet to have been announced. In the meantime, Kevin Nickelberry will be the interim coach. This is not the first time that LSU has played in the NCAA Tournament without it's head coach. In 2019, they also played int the NCAA Tournament without their head coach. That year they made it to the Sweet 16 as a three seed. The leading scorer for LSU this year has been Tari Eason, the Cincinnati transfer is averaging 16.9 PPG.  Iowa State comes into this matchup with a 20-12 record on the year. Many of you may recall I actually took a trip to Ames in late January to see them take on Missouri. They won that contest but have struggled since going 4-7 in the months of February and March. Many did not expect to see Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament this year. T.J. Otzelberger has done a great job in year one at Iowa State with a roster full of transfers. It will be interesting to see if he builds his program back up. Izaiah Brockington, the Penn State transfer has been the leading scorer for Iowa State. He is averaging 17.2 PPG. I expect this matchup to be very interesting and low scoring. LSU has the fifth ranked defense according to KenPom. While Iowa State has the tenth ranked defense. 

This game was an absolute rock fight. Back and forth, defensive game where shot making was at a premium. Iowa State controlled most of the first half of this game. The Cyclones lead by as many as 12 in the first half but failed to score a basket over the final 6:41 of the first half. LSU looked very lost without a coach. This was a big chance from the last time LSU entered the tourney without a coach. Many said this was one of the worst halves out of LSU all year. Darius Days lead the first half scoring for the Tigers with six points. Izaiah Brockington was the leading scorer in the first half for Iowa State with ten points. The Cyclones led at halftime by a score of 24-19.

The second half featured something I had never seen before at a college basketball game. A technical foul for 6 men on the court. LSU was whistled for this 2 minutes into the second half. I couldn't believe it. The second half was really back and forth. Iowa State would score five points, then LSU would score five points. Defense is what made this game. One of the best defensive plays you will see all year also happened in this game. Eric Gaines of LSU had a very impressive chase down block of Izaiah Brockingham as he was going up for a dunk. Iowa State would jump out to a 9 points lead but then a few minutes later it would get trimmed to three. Tyrese Hunter, the nearby Racine Wisconsin native had an awesome 2nd half. He connected on 7-11 threes in this game and was the reason Iowa State won this game. After Darius Days made it a one point game, Hunter would hit a three to make it a four point game. Hunter then hit the game sealer from darn near half court. Ice was certainly in Hunter's veins. He finished the game with 23. Tari Eason was the leading scorer with LSU with 18 points in only 19 minutes. Iowa State won by a final of 59-54. They advanced to play the winner of Wisconsin-Colgate.