Down 17 points to Mississippi State in the PMAC last season, with postseason aspirations in limbo, LSU turned to its diminutive, dreadlocked freshman point guard.
Anthony Hickey threw up a one-handed runner over Rodney Hood’s outstretched arms with 1.4 seconds left that found the bottom of the net and propelled Trent Johnson’s 2012 Tiger squad to an NIT appearance with a 69-67 win.
Johnson’s gone, the dreadlocks are gone, but Saturday’s contest against the Bulldogs was all the same.
The Hopkinsville, Ky., sophomore anchored a come-from-behind 69-68 win for the Tigers (12-7, 3-5 Southeastern Conference) after being down as much as 17, again nailing a game-winning runner that was also coincidentally buried with 1.4 seconds left.
“Coach just told me, ‘Get to the rack,’” Hickey said. “I usually settle for a jump shot, but I took coach’s advice on it.”
Hickey broke through in the final five minutes of the second half after enduring a scoreless first half. The Tigers struggled early, shooting a mere 27 percent from the field and bearing a 14-point deficit at the break.
Plagued with foul trouble throughout the second half, Hickey played the latter half of the final 20 minutes with four fouls, a risky tactic LSU coach Johnny Jones had no problem employing.
“The flow of the game was important at that time,” Jones said in his postgame radio interview. “I thought we were just going to roll with it. … I knew [Hickey] was capable of playing with [four fouls].”
Hickey put it more bluntly.
“I told coach, ‘Don’t take me out,’” Hickey said. “‘I’ll foul out playing this game.’”
Jones gushed over his point guard who had his fair share of adversity through the nonconference slate, suspended for one game and disciplined for another.
Hickey seems to have righted the ship, emerging as a top-tier point guard in the SEC, dueling with the likes of Missouri’s Phil Pressey and Florida’s Scottie Wilbekin as he became the Tigers’ leading scorer.
“He played aggressive defensively without fouling,” Jones said. “On the offensive end, he made the necessary plays to keep us in the game.”
It was evident Saturday as Hickey resurrected his team from an awful shooting night, breaking a streak of 15 consecutive misses from 3-point land when he hit a trey from the right wing with just over five minutes to play.
After junior forward Shavon Coleman’s layup and free throws from sophomore forward Johnny O’Bryant III and senior guard Charles Carmouche, Hickey rattled off the final seven points of the contest for LSU, including his dramatic floater to give the Tigers their first conference road win.
“I give credit to my team,” Hickey said. “They stuck it out, too. Johnny [O’Bryant] was a little down at the beginning, but he was able to pull it out toward the end.”
O’Bryant finished with his fifth consecutive double-double, tallying 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, becoming the first LSU player to record five straight since Glen Davis – even after playing a lackluster first half by Jones’ standards.
“I thought he came out in the first half probably not as aggressive as he’s played in the last few games,” Jones said in his postgame news conference. “I thought [in the second half] he rebounded the ball, he defended better and I thought he made some strong plays inside.”
