The defensive struggles continued for LSU against Mississippi State as the Tigers fell 95-78 to the Bulldogs, on Saturday.
“We’re disappointed to have another setback here at home and in conference play,” coach Johnny Jones said. “Mississippi State did a good job of coming in and making plays, especially in the first half getting the lead.
LSU trailed for nearly the entire game, only holding a lead for a mere 2:28 in the first half.
Behind 52-33 at halftime, LSU allowed Mississippi State to shoot 59 percent from the field and 58 percent beyond the arc. In three of its last four games LSU has given up 50 points in a half.
Jones, again, stressed the importance of playing better in the first half.
“We’ve got to be better defensively,” Jones said. “We’ve got to get stops. We’re going to have some nights that shots might not go down and we’re not as crisp as we need to be on the offensive end of the floor.”
No LSU player had more than six points at halftime for LSU, as the team shot 13-of-33 from the field.
Not much changed in the second half for LSU.
The Tigers shot 41 percent from the field, and trailed by as much as 26 points with 10:12 remaining to play.
Mississippi State scored 25 points off of turnovers, a problem that LSU hopes to address going forward.
Jones thinks new lineups on the floor might be the solution.
“We may have to play a little smaller than we would like,” Jones said. “Put the guys who are better ball-handlers and decision makers out there on the floor. We have to make sure that we can identify that problem soon because we can’t allow those type of turnovers to lead to easy scoring opportunities for our opponents.”
Mississippi State finished the game shooting 33-of-61 from the field and 11-of-22 from three.
Aric Holman led the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points and nine rebounds. New Orleans native Lamar Peters had 15 points and shot 4-of-10 from the field.
“I was really proud of Lamar,” Mississippi State coach Ben Howland said. “To play in front of family and friends, he had at least 20 people here including his mother.”
Junior forward Duop Reath finished with a double-double of 19 points and pulling down 13 rebounds for LSU while shooting 8-of-14 from the field. Sophomore guard Antonio Blakeney finished second in scoring for LSU, recording 17 points.
LSU now prepares to travel to play against Texas A&M squad on Wednesday, that has lost its last three games.
“We have to put ourselves in the position where we hate losing more than we love winning,” Jones said. “Until we can get to that point, it’s tough, and that’s on both ends of the floor.”
