Tigers fall to 0-3 in SEC play
LSU’s brutal start to SEC play extended into its second week as the Tigers dropped a third straight conference game Saturday evening at Ole Miss by a score of 77-65.
LSU (11-5, 0-3) trailed for the bulk of the game, and never led past the 3:00 mark of the first half. The Tigers opened up the game in a 7-0 hole but used a 15-0 run to grab a brief first half lead. Ole Miss would respond with a quick eight points in just a little over two minutes of game time to tie the game at 15.
Cam Carter hit a three to give LSU an 18-15 lead, and LSU would lead by as many as six points before Ole Miss wound up tying the game 23-23 with 3:42 to play in the half. Jordan Sears would hit a three to give LSU its last lead of the game, and then it was all Ole Miss for the entirety of the second half.
Ole Miss outscored LSU 49-39 in the second half and seemingly couldn’t miss coming out of the break. As a team the Rebs shot 60 percent from the floor in the second half and was 11 for 13 at the free throw line.
LSU, on the other hand, shot a respectable 45 percent from the floor in the second half (14-31), was a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line and ended up out-rebounding Ole Miss, but a total of 17 turnovers ended up killing LSU Saturday evening.
In a vacuum, losing at Ole Miss isn’t cause for concern. At 14-2, Ole Miss is #23 in the nation and the Rebels are sitting nicely at 3-0 in SEC play. The problem is LSU’s already in an 0-3 hole and there’s still a bunch of challenging games against ranked teams left to be played.
As the AP Poll stands currently, LSU still has to play #1 Tennessee, #2 Auburn, #5 Alabama, #6 Kentucky, #8 Florida, two games against #10 Texas A&M, #14 Mississippi State, and they’ll have a rematch with Ole Miss on February 8. That’s why losing the first two SEC games—home against Vanderbilt 80-72, and at Missouri 83-67—is so devastating because LSU’s frankly not good enough to survive this gauntlet coming up and to already be in an 0-3 hole might end whatever hopes were had in November and December of making the NCAA Tournament.