| Good morning, everyone. You know, of course, that Matt McMahon is the LSU men's basketball coach. You also might quickly and derisively add that he hasn't won a whole lot in his time in Baton Rouge (43-42 midway through his third season). But what do you know about McMahon's background? How he got his start in the game, and what shaped him on his way to this point? Our TJ Brown has a profile of McMahon heading into Wednesday's big showdown in the PMAC against No. 1-ranked Auburn (6 p.m., SEC Network). LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne has nearly 14 million social media followers, more than any other college athlete. Sunday, the social media superstar took to the internet to express her concerns over the way judging has changed this season in her sport. LSU, coming off a 196.850-196.600 upset loss Friday at Arkansas, dropped only one spot in the national rankings to No. 3 going into this Friday's home meet with No. 9 Missouri (7:30 p.m., SEC Network). Finally, our Reed Darcey files this story on the LSU women, who have hit a shooting slump in their 66-56 loss at South Carolina and their 64-51 win over Texas A&M. Going into Thursday's home game against No. 13 Oklahoma (6 p.m., ESPN2), the Tigers insist their issues can all be ironed out. And that once they do, opponents should watch out: ----------------------------------- Cold shooting? Foul trouble? Turnover issues? The LSU women think it's all 'fixable' Against South Carolina, the LSU women didn’t shoot well. They committed too many fouls. They also gave away too many possessions, a fact that kept Flau’jae Johnson up at night then but hardens her resolve now, a few days removed from the loss. “All of those things are fixable,” Johnson said Sunday. Including, Johnson said, the No. 7 Tigers’ recent cold shooting spell. LSU hit only 30% of its shots against the No. 2 Gamecocks, then converted just 32% of its looks on Sunday in an ugly 64-51 win over Texas A&M. It was the first time under coach Kim Mulkey that the Tigers have made less than 35% of their field goals in back-to-back games. Until Friday, LSU had done so only six times across those four seasons — yet won each game. This year, LSU’s trio of stars — Johnson, Aneesah Morrow and Mikaylah Williams — have combined to shoot 49% from the field. But in the last two games, they converted only 35% of their looks. Johnson’s efficiency dipped, she said, in part because she’s let her shot move a little off kilter, with her base shifting either too far to the left or right when she tries 3-pointers. Mulkey offered another explanation Sunday. And she didn’t sound too concerned that the shooting issues — or the turnovers or fouls — would bleed into LSU’s Thursday home game against No. 13 Oklahoma. “Here's what's happening,” Mulkey said. “People are scouting you. You've got coaches that are scouting and taking away a lot of the stuff you do. It's part of basketball, and then the playoffs will come around, and then it'll be, well, it looks easier in the playoffs. Well, yeah, because we're grinding it out in the SEC.” LSU missed 103 shots against South Carolina and Texas A&M, yet it still hung with the reigning national champions on Friday and picked up a 13-point win at home Sunday. The antidote to those shooting woes? Offensive rebounding. The Tigers grabbed 58 offensive boards across those two games — 28 against the Gamecocks and 30 against the Aggies. Both totals set program records for offensive rebounds in games against Southeastern Conference teams, and the first batch nearly helped LSU topple South Carolina, which converted only 37% of its looks. In fact, the Tigers have prevented each of their last three opponents from shooting at least 40% from the field. Before Friday, they were 81-2 under Mulkey when they accomplish that goal. But LSU picked up its third loss in one of those games in large part because it turned those 28 offensive rebounds into only 22 points while converting just 11 of 29 layup tries. On Sunday, LSU’s work on the offensive glass gave it 21 more field-goal attempts than the Aggies, an advantage it used to overcome a poor shooting day. “When it's tough for you on the offensive end,” Mulkey said, “that's what keeps you in ball games, and that's what helps you win ball games. And I know I've preached that since I've been here, but this is a great example of it today.” LSU now has the top offensive rebounding rate (47%) among Division I teams, according to Her Hoop Stats. Since SEC play began, the Tigers are grabbing a conference-leading 19.6 offensive boards per game. Morrow still has the best rebounding average in the country (14.0), and only one Division I player is cleaning the offensive glass at a higher rate (5.2) than she is. Those kinds of numbers can help LSU win games until it can fix some of the other issues that have appeared over the last two games, which Johnson thinks will happen soon. “(If) we shoot the ball better,” she said, “it's gonna be scary. But it's gonna come.” ----------------------------------- That's all for today, folks. We've got a lot more LSU content for you every day, so please keep reading and subscribing. Until next time, Scott Rabalais | 