Welcome everyone to the latest edition of #3OT where I break down what went wrong for the LSU Tigers! In this edition, I look at their 96-76 loss to the Ole Miss Rebels.
1st OT: Blakeney’s Big First Half
When you have over 20 points from one player at the half, the expectations are huge for them to have a good second half. That’s what they were for Antonio Blakeney who had 22 points after twenty mintues of play. However, the Tigers didn’t get much out of their star player and the rest of the team faltered because of it.
2nd OT: Too Many Turnovers
Outside of poor offense in the second half, their turnovers hurt them, especially in the second half. They committed 12 of their 19 turnovers in the final twenty minutes and the Rebels were able to take advantage of the opportunities that LSU gave them.
3rd OT: Not Putting Foot on Gas Late
Going back to the game that Antonio Blakeney had, there is absolutely no reason why LSU did what they did in the second half. He only shot the ball five times in the second half and accounted for half of the Tigers points in the first half. It really showed the inadequacies that LSU has at head coach that if you have a player like Blakeney having a hot night, you take the ball out of his hands. It would be understandable if he was in foul trouble, but that wasn’t the case as he only had two personal fouls all game. This felt like a rehash of what happened when Ben Simmons was with LSU. He was selfless and it showed because he was the alpha male and the needed him to go all out on the court. Blakeney was needed to be in that role if they wanted a chance to get their second win in SEC play.
-Clint Domingue