LSU super senior KJ Williams, senior Trae Hannibal and junior Cam Hayes combined for 55 of LSU’s 68 points as the Tigers end their 2022-23 season in the second round of the SEC Tournament with a 77-68 loss to Vanderbilt here Thursday night in Bridgestone Arena.
The Tigers finish the season at 14-19, while Vanderbilt will face Kentucky in the final game of Friday’s quarterfinals. The Commodores are now 19-13 overall.
Williams completed his spectacular single season at LSU that earned him second team All-SEC honors and against Vanderbilt, he made 10-of-16 field goals, including 4-of-8 from distance and both free throw attempts for 26 points and 11 rebounds. It was ninth double double of the year. He also had two assists.
Hayes hit 5-of-11 shots with one trey and five free throws to finish with 16 points and two assists. Hannibal had a 13-point, career best 13 rebound game (7 offensive), making three field goals and 7-of-10 at the free throw line to go with four assists and two steals.
While the trio combined to make 18-of-36 shots and 5-of-12 from the arc, the Tigers still shot just 33.3 percent for the game (23-of-69) and 6-of-23 from distance.
Vanderbilt shot a consistent 46.4 percent from the floor (26-of-56) with six treys. The rebounded were even at 42, the third straight game LSU recorded at least 40 rebounds. LSU had a 20-12 advantage on the offensive boards and 19-12 on second chance points.
The Tigers continued to get better more consistently at the end in turnovers, having back-to-back single digit turnovers games in the tournament, with eight.
Tyrin Lawrence led Vandy with 22 points, while Ezra Manjon had 17, Jordan Wright 15 points and 15 rebounds and Paul Lewis 11 points as those four combined for 65-of-Vandy’s-77 points.
Vandy took the lead 16 seconds in and never trailed in the contest from there, building as much as a 14-point first half advantage with under eight minutes to go in the first half and leading 37-29 at intermission.
In the second half, the Tigers behind the play of its three scorers on this night, continued to show fight, scoring the first three buckets of the second half (all by Williams on a three-pointer, a bucket off a turnover and an offensive rebound put back to get LSU back to within one, 37-36, with 17:57 to play in the game.
But Vandy answered with a long two-pointer and after a turnover and three misses on one possession, got a three-pointer to push it to 42-36. That started a 12-0 run that gave Vandy a 49-36 cushion. LSU was able to get the game to seven in the final 45 seconds before Vanderbilt got the last two points on free throws for the final margin.
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