Despite KJ Williams’ strong effort, LSU couldn’t overcome Vandy’s solid guard play

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — KJ Williams followed Matt McMahon to LSU to prove he was more than a really good player for a school in a mid-major conference.

After four seasons at Murray State, where he was the 2022 Ohio Valley Conference player of the year, Williams was eager to show he could play with the Southeastern Conference’s best.

It was mission accomplished for the 6-foot-10, 245-pound forward, who earned a pair of second-team All-SEC honors from the league’s coaches and media.

Williams’ five-year collegiate career came to an end late Thursday night in the SEC tournament, but not before McMahon got everything his star player had in a 77-68 loss to Vanderbilt in Bridgestone Arena.

Williams scored 26 points and picked off 11 rebounds to finish his lone season at LSU averaging 17.7 points, good for second in the league, and 7.7 rebounds.

“Sitting here with KJ Williams, it’s just been a tremendous honor for me to have the opportunity to coach him over these last five years,” McMahon said in the postgame news conference. “He’s what college basketball is all about … he’s what coaching is all about.”

Unfortunately, as it has been for most of a frustrating 2½ months, Williams didn’t get enough help against Vanderbilt — one night after No. 14 seed LSU played well enough to eliminate No. 11 seed Georgia.

But it wasn’t to be with vastly superior guard play by Vanderbilt — which was needed because 7-foot forward Liam Robbins was sidelined by a leg injury — being the difference in the outcome.

The five guards that McMahon rotated in and out combined to go 9 of 37 from the field, with Williams topping that by himself by hitting 10 of 16 shot attempts — including four of his eight tries from long range.

All told, LSU players not named KJ Williams were a combined 13 of 53 from the floor.

“At the end of the day in college basketball, you’ve got to have elite guard play,” McMahon said.

Meanwhile, Vanderbilt’s guards — a group led by Tyrin Lawrence — were 21 of 35 as the Commodores made the Tigers pay for a Feb. 22 loss in Baton Rouge. That setback temporarily slowed the hottest team in the SEC over the past month and a half, but it was the Commodores’ only loss since Jan. 31 going into Friday’s SEC tournament quarterfinal game against Kentucky.

“Overall, the efficiency of their guard play really dictated (the outcome),” McMahon said, “in that second half, especially.”

Lawrence, who poured in 22 points while going 6 of 7 from the field and 9 of 11 at the free-throw line, was joined by Baton Rouge native and Dunham graduate Jordan Wright in avenging their lone setback in the past 10 games.

A 6-6 shooting guard, Wright scored 15 points and posted a game- and career-high 15 rebounds.

After the game, Wright was asked whether he and his teammates had something extra for LSU with the loss in Baton Rouge still fresh in their minds.

“For sure, for sure,” he said. “They ended our streak. We had a five-game winning streak (prior to the LSU loss) and we wanted to extend that. It could have been nine or 10.”

Point guard Ezra Manjon, who had 17 points and three assists, agreed.

“We feel like we owed them one,” he said. “We wanted to come out here, play aggressive, play our game. Just be us.”

That’s where the problems started for LSU.

The Tigers did erase a 14-point first-half deficit when Williams scored the first seven points of the second half to pull his team to within one with more than 18 minutes remaining.

But LSU’s guards had trouble staying with Vanderbilt’s backcourt on both ends of the floor. The Commodores continued to fill the basket up, and they clamped down on the Tigers.

“I thought their defensive game plan was good,” McMahon said. “They really didn’t guard some of our guys who struggled shooting the ball tonight. It made the floor really crowded.

“As a whole, we came here and competed and were more connected on the defensive end. Credit to Vanderbilt, we were unable to score the ball efficiently enough tonight to give ourselves a chance to win.”