Kevin Nickelberry found himself in a tough spot this week.
He was unexpectedly thrust into LSU men’s basketball’s interim head coaching role after Will Wade and associated head coach Bill Armstrong were fired on Saturday ahead of the postseason.
Nickelberry took a team to Milwaukee with a cloud of uncertainty hanging over it, and though it fought hard against No. 11-seeded Iowa State in the first round, the No. 6-seeded Tigers were upset 59-54.
LSU’s defense was strong as usual, but the offense struggled to execute, especially in the first half. There were also several mistakes that proved costly, one of the most notable being a technical foul that resulted from the Tigers having six players on the court.
After the game, Nickelberry addressed the situation.
“I don’t know what happened, to be honest with you,” Nickelberry said, according to On3. “I went over and asked why we got the tech. He said we had too many people on the floor. I think probably tired — we subbed somebody in and the wrong person came out and he tried to get back onto the floor. It’s happened before. I’ve coached for 30 years, it’s not the first time I’ve seen somebody get a tech for having somebody on the floor.
“It’s unfortunate. It happens. We had to do some new rotations tonight with the foul trouble issues we had. Unfortunately, we got in foul trouble again early in the game. So, something that’s haunting us all year.”
Nickelberry tried to shield the team from distractions this week, but given the murky future at head coach and lingering potential NCAA sanctions, that was easier said than done. Still, he said he was proud of the way his team fought through adversity.
“First of all, I would like to obviously thank these players for dealing with a tough week and coming out and fighting an entire game,” Nickelberry said. “We had — the last one gave us a chance to get a win and we were in the game till the end. So I know to the normal person — I said all week it’s just basketball, but the distractions were a lot and these guys still fought through those distractions, went out and gave LSU a chance to win tonight.”
After a first-round upset as a seeding favorite, the Tigers head into what could be a tumultuous offseason. They still need to find a full-time replacement for Wade, and they also have a lot of ground to make up in recruiting.
The team has now lost both of its 2022 signees, leaving just one commit, and the lone commit in 2023 — five-star point guard Marvel Allen — also decommitted.
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