The Massachusetts men’s basketball team appeared to steady itself, shaking off a lethargic start to draw even with Louisiana State.

UMass guard Derrick Gordon made it 24-24 with eight minutes, 23 seconds remaining in the first half, despite the Minutemen allowing LSU to score its first 16 points in the paint, falling behind 8-0 to start and failing to adapt at defending the Tigers’ size at the forward position.

UMass had finally arrived. Guard Trey Davis, who is embattled in a prolonged shooting slump, made a layup and a deep 3-pointer. The energy picked up.

But just as quickly as the Minutemen evened the score, it yet again fell back on the defensive. It would remain that way, as LSU bullied UMass en route to an 82-60 victory Tuesday night in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“Overall, as a group, we didn’t play like we wanted to win,” Gordon told reporters after the game. “We were there going through the motions and we put our heads down at the end. We can’t do that.”

The Tigers quickly re-extended its lead following the 24-24 deadlock, exploding on a 17-2 run to expand their lead to 41-26. The Minutemen committed five turnovers during that stretch, three of which came from point guard Jabarie Hinds.

A reeling UMass squad didn’t recover – despite multiple attempts – and failed to put much of a scare into LSU throughout.

The Minutemen never once had a lead.

“I thought the start of the game was indicative of the whole game,” UMass coach Derek Kellogg said. “We made a couple short runs at them but I thought those were inhibited by our bad decision making on the offensive end of the floor.”

Much of the focus surrounding the Tigers entering the game was on forwards Jordan Mickey and Jarrell Martin, who entered as LSU’s two leading scorers. The duo performed admirably, with Mickey chipping in 16 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks while Martin scored 12.

But it was Tigers guard Josh Gray who stole the show.

Gray scored 25 points in 35 minutes of play, shooting 11-of-15 from the floor, including 3-of-4 on 3-pointers. He added five assists, four rebounds and three steals and seemingly had an answer for the Minutemen at every turn.

The junior scored the final five points to end the first half – LSU led 44-32 at halftime – and made a layup to make it 48-38 with 16:40 remaining in the game after UMass cut the deficit to eight points.

When the Minutemen again cut away at the Tigers’ lead with 6:55 remaining on a Cady Lalanne free throw that made it 65-55, it was Gray who answered with six straight points to extend the lead to 71-56.

LSU thwarted every UMass comeback – and just about every other Minutemen attack – with relative ease. UMass scored only five points over the final seven minutes and lamented its poor offensive efficiency after the game.

“We take too many shots quick into the shot clock,” Gordon said. “When we miss, they get the rebound and go. We just have to be more careful on our shot selection.”

“I thought our poor shot selection offensive was a killer,” Kellogg said. “(LSU) got 10 fast break points, but I would say it was more like 30 (points) off of blocked shots like we talked about.”

The Tigers specifically had their way with the Minutemen around the basket.

Twenty-eight of the Tigers’ first 35 points came within the paint. By night’s end, LSU had a total of 10 blocked shots. Frustration boiled over for UMass, which shot only 37.8 percent from the floor (23-of-61) and fared little better on 3-pointers, making 2-of-13.

The Minutemen’s only answer in the post was Lalanne, who scored 16 points and added 12 rebounds. He did so in an inefficient manner, shooting 6-of-15 from the floor and missing three free throws.

UMass forward Maxie Esho added 14 points and seven rebounds.

Davis was the only other Minuteman to score in double-figures as he finished with 11 points on 5-of-15 shooting. Davis and Hinds combined for seven turnovers while assisting on just a single basket from the point guard position. UMass had just six assists as a team and made 18 turnovers.

After the game, Gordon said the team must use Tuesday’s loss as a learning tool.

“This was definitely something that (Kellogg) was preaching to use in the locker room, that we can’t just give up like that,” Gordon said.

“We looked bad out there, to be honest with you. We definitely exposed ourselves now, that’s two losses in a row.”

Mark Chiarelli can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @Mark_Chiarelli.