Story:

LSU elected to not participate in the NIT, putting themselves out of their misery. “We will be able to utilize this time to get better and start preparations for next season,” said Johnny Jones. The Tigers were thoroughly beaten by Texas A&M in Saturday’s SEC Tournament Semi-Final. The Ben Simmons Era, you could say, was quite the disaster for the 2016 LSU Tigers. The LSU Basketball season is officially over. For more:

The Tigers shot an atrocious 20.6 percent from the field in the game Saturday.

Simmons was LSU’s leading scorer with 10 points and 12 rebounds. (23rd double double of the season)

LSU’s 13 point first half was the smallest points scored in a half in Division I this season.

LSU’s Simmons was named SEC Freshman of the Year and first-team All-America by USBWA.

2015-2016 Top Performers:

Points Per Game: Ben Simmons – 19.2

Assists Per Game: Ben Simmons – 4.8

Field Goal Percentage: Ben Simmons – 56.0

Quotes from Johnny Jones:

“I thought the guys came out ready to play.”

“I thought we did a great job of getting out of the gate and getting steals, rebounds, and playing good on the defensive end of the foor and holding them.”

“Got up, I think 9-4, 9-6. Unfortunately for us, we got stuck on 9 and defensively couldn’t get things to click.”

I thought A&M got going. They started making some shots, and they started feeding off of it.”

“Unfortunately for us, we sit there in the first half and got a couple fouls, got a couple guys in foul trouble, and I thought we lost a little bit of our edge, a little bit of our flow.”

Unfortunately, going in at halftime with only 13 points, which is a low for us, and coming back out in the second half, more of the same.”

“Very disappointing for us to find and pick the day to have a bad shooting day and not get anything to go.”

“But thought they guys at least tried to finish the game the right way.”

Quotes from Ben Simmons:

“I didn’t expect that to happen, but it got out of hand a little bit.”

“But we were just trying to fight back. When the foul trouble happened, free throws, box out.”

“A lot of things went into that game, and I definitely didn’t expect that.”

“For us, when I was catching down low, they were sending two guys over to block the shot.”

“We’re playing pretty good defense with the zone they jumped into when Jones got that second foul.”

Ben on whether they will accept NIT Bid and if they want to keep season going:

“Whatever the future holds. I want to play with this team as long as I can.”

“I love my teammates and my coach and stuff, and I’m having a great time playing with these guys.”

“These are like my brothers to me. I don’t want to leave.”

Is the Ben Simmons Era officially over?

LSU’s Basketball season ends on a sour note, however, the Tigers will back…