By Hunt Palmer
THE STORY: That’s about as well as LSU can play.
It wasn’t good enough.
Ole Miss rattled off 13 straight points over the final 2:52 to beat LSU, 72-70. Dre Davis’s tip in with 0:0.1 seconds on the clock was the difference.
LSU led by 11 with 3:15 to play on a gorgeous driving layup by Cam Carter. From that point on, LSU only attempted one field goal, another layup by Carter that was blocked.
Carter traveled. Dji Bailey turned the ball over. Corey Chest missed two free throws. Carter was called for an offensive push off. Ole Miss made the shots they had to make including Jaemyn Brakefield’s three ball over an outstretched Daimion Collins to tie the game with 45 ticks left.
Ole Miss looked like a team intent on winning. LSU looked like a team terrified of coughing up a lead.
To the original point, LSU only turned the ball over 10 times. That only resulted in nine Ole Miss points. Ole Miss did not dunk the ball once and converted just 42 percent of its layups.
Carter and Sears made 6-of-13 threes for 43 percent, and LSU only lost the offensive rebound battle 11-to-9.
That’s the recipe for LSU. That’s what the Tigers have to do to win. And it resulted in an 11-point lead with less than three minutes to play. That’s as good as LSU can do. And it wasn’t enough.
Chest’s technical cannot go without mention. He lost his cool and slapped the ball out of Davis’s hands with 4:59 left and LSU up 10. The Rebels made all four free throws and cut the lead to six. That’s just an unacceptable play.
This is an unacceptable season. The Tigers are now 1-9 in SEC play.
THE STATS: LSU outshot Ole Miss 45 percent to 38 percent.
LSU, the SEC’s best free throw shooting team, shot 12-for-25 from the free throw line, a season worst 48 percent. Chest was 1-for-6 and Robert Miller was 0-for-4.
Ole Miss only turned the ball over five times.
Chest had 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. LSU was plus-8 with him on the floor.
LSU led 39-33 at halftime. The Tigers had only turned the ball over twice.
