STARKVILLE, Mississippi — Another game, another down-to-the-wire finish.
Nail-biters and close calls have become pretty standard for the LSU men’s basketball team this season, and so has winning them. But that changed against Mississippi State on Saturday.
LSU sophomore forward Jordan Mickey delivered a gutsy performance with 25 points and a career-high 20 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers missed too many shots down the stretch and fell to the Bulldogs, 73-67, in Humphrey Coliseum.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for LSU, which dropped to 2-3 in its last five trips to Starkville, Mississippi. It was also the first time the Tigers (16-5, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) lost to the Bulldogs since Jan. 25, 2012.
“It hurts losing here knowing that we could have had a chance to win the game,” said LSU sophomore guard Tim Quarterman, who shot a season-worst 1-of-10 from the floor and matched his season-low of four points. “We had a lot of momentum coming into this game.”
The Tigers couldn’t capitalize on a big night from Mickey, who hurt his right foot with 13:38 left in the game but returned less than two minutes later. Mickey notched his 12th double-double of the year and became the first LSU player to record at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in the same game since Geert Hammink accomplished the feat Dec. 16, 1992.
But the rest of Mickey’s teammates struggled to get much going offensively. As a team, LSU shot 38 percent (26-of-69) from the field, but that rate dropped to a chilling 29 percent (15-of-51) without Mickey’s 11-for-18 clip.
While Mississippi State (10-11, 3-5 SEC) didn’t shoot particularly well from the field, the Bulldogs continuously attacked the paint and went to the free throw line 35 times, making 23 of them.
The Tigers, on the other hand, could only muster 21 trips to the line and sank just 11.

LSU junior guard Keith Hornsby, who scored 15 points on 5-for-17 shooting from the field and 3-of-10 from 3-point range, said it was a bad day for everybody in the purple-and-gold.
“It was like there was a dang lid on the basket,” Hornsby said. “First half was terrible for me and terrible for a lot of guys. We had some better moments in the second half, but overall out shooting was pretty rough today. We don’t have any excuses.”
Trailing by three points at the break, LSU jumped out in front, 34-31, with a 6-0 run to start the second half. But Mississippi State junior guard Fred Thomas reeled off five straight points to put the Bulldogs back on top.
Hornsby responded to Thomas’ challenge with a 3-pointer and a two-handed slam on consecutive possessions to give LSU a 45-44 lead with 13:04 left in the game.
But the Tigers missed too many free throws when they needed them most, going 5-for-13 from the line in the second half.
With the game on the line, Mississippi State made the most of its trips to the charity stripe, hitting 18-for-25 from the line in the second half. This included a 5-for-5 clip for Thomas, who came off the bench and led the Bulldogs with 18 points.
Mississippi State made its last eight free throws to seal the win.

“The defensive end of the floor, we did not do a great job of keeping them out of the lane – which is something we’ve done pretty much all year – we’ve been good defensively in getting stops and not getting ourselves in foul trouble,” said LSU coach Johnny Jones.
LSU sophomore forward Jarell Martin battled foul trouble all game and had a season-low four points, but he gave the Tigers a three-point lead with 4:18 left in the game. But the Bulldogs put together another 6-0 spurt to regain a lead they’d never relinquish.
“We would get a lead and get up two or three, they would come back down and execute and get an easy score – thought halfcourt we did a good job in our man defense,” Jones said. “But I thought we gave up too many easy scoring opportunities for them in their break.”