Key injury further jeopardizes LSU’s NCAA tournament hopes
LSU’s only consistent perimeter shooter could miss the rest of the season.
Keith Hornsby has aggravated the sports hernia injury that caused him to miss the first seven games of the season, ESPN.com reported Monday. Hornsby left Saturday’s loss to Tennessee during the first half clutching his abdomen and did not play in the second half.
The injury is ill-timed for an LSU team that has lost two straight games against lesser-talented teams and is in need of a strong finish just to make the NCAA tournament. To feel confident in their chances entering the SEC tournament, the Tigers (16-11, 9-5) likely need at least three wins in their upcoming four games against Arkansas, Florida, Missouri and Kentucky.
Not having Hornsby available will make that goal tougher to achieve.
Hornsby, LSU’s second-leading scorer and top 3-point shooter, is averaging 13.1 points in 20 games and shooting 41.5 percent from beyond the arc. Without him, it will be easier for opposing defenses to clog the paint and cut off driving lanes for Ben Simmons and Tim Quarterman because no other player on the Tigers’ roster shoots higher than 34 percent from behind the arc.
The importance of Hornsby was evident in LSU’s November struggles. The Tigers lost to Marquette, NC State and Charleston without Hornsby, shooting a combined 28.9 percent from behind the arc in those games.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
