After a loss to the Auburn Tigers last Saturday, the LSU Tigers men’s basketball team returned home Wednesday as they hosted the Ole Miss Rebels. The Tigers forced some tough shots and turnovers on Ole Miss as LSU gave the Rebels their second loss of the season with an 89-80 win on Wednesday to improve to 11-6 on the season and 3-1 in SEC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
It was a rough start for both teams as there were multiple missed shots and turnovers. Mike Williams III created two steals in that time but neither stop on defense resulted in any points. Jaylen Murray of Ole Miss scored the first points of the game with a three-pointer from the wing. Williams III responded with a three of his own.
The Rebels scored the next six points as Murray sized up his defender and knocked down the shot from the top of the key. Murray’s free throw and then layup a couple of possessions gave Ole Miss the 9-3 lead with 15:50 left in the first half.
Following a timeout by LSU coach Matt McMahon, Will Baker scored his first four points with a three-pointer that was assisted by Jordan Wright and then made one of two from the charity stripe. Jalen Reed’s putback layup made it an 11-9 deficit for LSU and it remained close with back-to-back scoring over the next six minutes.
Murray laced a couple more jumpers for the Rebels but a couple of made shots including buzzer-beater bank three by Wright, a putback by Derek Fountain, and a fast-break dunk by Tyrell Ward kept it a one-score game. Reed’s three tied the game at 24 and forced Ole Miss to take a timeout with 7:59 left.
Wright came up big in the final few minutes of the first half scoring six of the team’s final nine points. The rest came from a three by Jalen Cook as Wright made the cross-court pass before going out of bounds. The senior guard also grabbed a couple of rebounds a picked off a pass that led to Wright going coast-to-coast for the easy dunk.
LSU went into halftime up 35-33.
Wright continued to jumpstart the Tigers’ offense to begin the second half as he knocked down a top-of-the-key three on the first possession, made the and-one layup, and then put back his miss.
Williams III found Baker for the easy dunk and then Baker got another chance to eat in the paint as Fountain was credited with the assist. Despite scoring from Matthew Murrell and TJ Caldwell, back-to-back threes by Ward put LSU up 57-46 with 11:41 to go in the game.
The Tigers extended their lead after the break with a layup by Trae Hannibal, a heat-check three-ball by Ward, and a contested layup by Hunter Dean. Wright assisted on two of those plays as LSU went up 64-48. Ole Miss called by timeout after Jaemyn Brakefield knocked down one from distance to stop the run by the Tigers.
Ole Miss went on a 14-4 run as scored five straight for the Rebels then a layup by Murray made it a six-point game with less than five and a half minutes to go.
LSU responded as Cook made the and-one floater and Wright put back his shot to give the Tigers the 73-62 advantage. The Bayou Bengals extended their lead with a couple of free throws by Williams III and Cook.
The Tigers got sloppy late against the full press defense by the Rebels. Flanigan scored five straight off the turnovers but a corner three by Williams III put LSU up by eight with 64 seconds to play.
Ole Miss tried to force up a few prayer three-pointers but enough of them weren’t answered as LSU handed the Rebels their second loss of the season in an 89-80 game.
BIG NUMBER: 10
Another big defensive night for the Tigers as the team stole the ball from the Rebels 10 times. Guard Jordan Wright had seven while the other three came from Mike Williams III in the 89-80 win over the Ole Miss Rebels.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jordan Wright
Wright was the engine that made LSU go on Wednesday evening as he had a game-high 27 points on 9/16 shooting from the field and was 2/4 from three-point land. The senior guard also had seven steals, six rebounds, and five assists in the win.
UP NEXT: The LSU Tigers men’s basketball team will be back home on Saturday, January 20th. They’ll host the Texas A&M Aggies as tipoff in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center is set for 3:00 p.m.