The road has become familiar territory for the LSU men’s basketball team.
After rallying past South Carolina for a dramatic 64-58 home victory Wednesday night, the second-place Tigers (16-4, 5-2 Southeastern Conference) play on the road for the fifth time in eight games when they square off against struggling Mississippi State at 1 p.m. Saturday in Humphrey Coliseum.
LSU has won five of its last six games against the Bulldogs (9-11, 2-5 SEC), including the previous four. But the Tigers are 2-2 in their last four trips to Starkville, Mississippi, with each game decided by five points or less.
But LSU coach Johnny Jones isn’t too concerned about which way the game may play out. Whether it’s another wire-to-wire finish or if the game becomes a blowout, Jones said his squad has shown it can win in a variety of ways.
“We’ve been able to play through a lot of different styles and still had a lot of success,” Jones said.

LSU has experienced nearly as much success away from the PMAC as it’s had inside. The Tigers are 5-1 in road games, which is the most road wins for an SEC team so far this season.
LSU has also taken care of business at home, with Wednesday’s win against South Carolina being the latest case in point.
On Wednesday, LSU overcame a dismal first-half shooting performance to clip the Gamecocks for its third consecutive victory and fifth in six games. The Tigers preserved the dramatic win with four blocked shots in the last 32 seconds, including three emphatic stuffs by sophomore forward Jordan Mickey.
LSU will try to avoid an emotional letdown when its tips off against the Bulldogs, who have dropped five of seven but lost by a combined 12 points in their two previous outings against Georgia and Ole Miss.
Mickey,who collected his 177th career block against the Gamecocks to move into second place in LSU history, said MSU is better than its current standing suggests.
“[The Bulldogs’] record doesn’t dictate how good they are,” Mickey said. “They’re a scrappy team, and we have to be ready to play. We can’t look past any team. We have to take every game like it’s the last one.”
The last one for the Bulldogs likely left a bitter taste in their mouths. On Wednesday, MSU led Ole Miss by as much as 13 points in the second half before dropping the contest, 79-73.
Despite the loss, MSU junior guard Craig Sword provided a major lift. Sword — who led the Bulldogs in scoring last season before missing time earlier this year with a back injury — pumped in a game-high 27 points and went 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
With the team slowly getting healthy, Jones said the Bulldogs are starting to put all of their pieces together on the court.
“They had injuries early and had guys out from surgery,” Jones said. “They’re back. They’ve had the [chance] to get back in game shape, and that’s allowed for their games to be more competitive.”

As a team, the Bulldogs shot a sizzling 55.6 percent from the floor against the Rebels, including 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from deep. LSU sophomore guard Tim Quarterman said he expects his team to be tested with another close game.
“They had a lot of close games in conference, too, but they just fell short,” Quarterman said. “They play until the end. We have to go down there with the mindset that we go into every game with because they’re really going to be on us.”