Just when the LSU men’s basketball team thought it had righted the ship, the Ole Miss Rebels dropped the anchor and stopped the ship dead in its course.
Rebels’ senior guard Clarence Sanders’ jumper with 0.6 seconds remaining in Wednesday’s game beat the Tigers, 71-70, and stopped any momentum LSU gained with its 71-67 home win Saturday against the University of Arkansas.
The Tigers (14-11, 3-8) will attempt to lift the anchor that has held them down for most of the season when Mississippi State University (14-10, 5-6) visits the PMAC Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.
The loss to the Rebels dropped the Tigers’ record to 1-7 in their last eight games, and their eight Southeastern Conference losses have matched their conference loss total from the 2003-2004 campaign.
LSU finished No. 2 in the SEC West that season, missed the NCAA tournament and lost to the University of Oklahoma in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament, 70-61.
To add insult to injury, or perhaps the other way around, LSU junior forward Glen Davis did not practice Thursday as a precautionary measure because of the bruised quadricep he suffered against Arkansas and aggravated against Ole Miss. Davis expects to play against the Bulldogs.
Sophomore forward Tasmin Mitchell is also fighting an injury. Following Thursday’s practice, Mitchell said he has played with a hairline fracture in his toe for about two months, but the injury has not kept him in street clothes on the Tigers bench.
“I’m a warrior man,” Mitchell said. “Ain’t no stopping me. I’m trying to play some ball.”
LSU coach John Brady said Wednesday’s loss was one of the hardest and most difficult he has experienced as a head coach.
“The game that we played [Wednesday] was disappointing to not be able to win it,” Brady said during the SEC coaches teleconference. “With the way we played, we deserved to win that game. It’s unfortunate that we’ve been playing well and haven’t been able to win the close one.”
Six of the Tigers 11 losses this season have come by five points or less.
Brady gave credit to Ole Miss and first-year coach Andy Kennedy, calling the Rebels the most improved team in the conference.
With the victory against LSU, Ole Miss is now 6-5 in the SEC and leads the western division by one game over the University of Alabama.
Despite the tough loss, the Tigers now face the task of shifting their attention to the other SEC school in Mississippi. The Bulldogs have won three of their past four games, including an 85-78 home win against LSU in which the Bulldogs shot 13-of-27 from behind the 3-point line.
Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said with the parity in the SEC West this season, victories away from home are even tougher to come by.
“Like always, it’s never easy on the road,” Stansbury said. “LSU had a difficult loss [Wednesday], but I’m sure they’re searching for that win.”
The Tigers loss to the Rebels overshadowed what ended up being a career night for LSU senior forward Darnell Lazare. Lazare finished Wednesday’s game with a career-high 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
Lazare said if the Tigers keep playing with continued effort, wins will eventually come.
“We have to go out and leave it all on the floor,” Lazare said. “I don’t want to leave any doubts that we didn’t play hard. I’m accustomed to winning games. A lot of these guys have had that taste of winning so they know what it takes.”
Lazare said the Tigers have to forget about the events that transpired Wednesday in Oxford, Miss.
“You’ve got to have a short-term memory,” he said.
—–Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]