This loss was different. 
On the stat sheet, the LSU men’s basketball team’s 77-69 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday will register as the Tigers’ 11th consecutive loss.
Look closer. 
Unlike its last two contests, both thrashings at the hands of Kentucky and Arkansas, respectively, LSU (9-16, 0-11) kept up with the No. 24 Commodores (19-5, 8-2) for the entire game. The Tigers even led at halftime. 
“I thought that we played well against a good team today but came up short,” LSU senior forward Tasmin Mitchell said in a news release. “We fought hard on the road today.”
Mitchell led the Tigers with 20 points, junior guard Bo Spencer scored 18 points and sophomore forward Storm Warren contributed 12 in the losing effort.
The star du jour was Commodore sophomore forward Lance Goulbourne, who fired in 18 points to lead Vanderbilt’s balanced attack.
Senior guard Jermaine Beal scored 17 points, sophomore guard Jefferey Taylor logged 15 points and junior center A.J. Ogilvy notched 12 points in the win.
After heading to the locker room with a 29-28 lead, LSU fell behind quickly. The Commodores used a 13-4 run to snatch the lead and push it to eight points.
But LSU managed to close the gap. Mitchell and Spencer, along with surprise contributions from freshman forward Dennis Harris and sophomore forward Garrett Green, helped the Tigers tie the game at 59 with 4:03 to play. The smell of a first conference win briefly wafted through the nostrils of fans and players.
It was not to be.
Behind Goulbourne, the Commodores quashed any hopes the Tigers had of a win. Goulbourne’s two free throws with 22 seconds remaining gave Vanderbilt an eight-point lead to ice the win.
“Obviously they caused some problems for us, but the contributions that we got from Dennis Harris and Garrett Green were pleasing,” LSU coach Trent Johnson said in a news release. “Hopefully we can take this experience and move forward.”
Harris and Green, who have been ghosts this season, finally showed why some pinned high hopes on them heading into the season. Harris scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, while Green managed six points and six rebounds.
The Tigers now head into Saturday’s game against Mississippi State (18-8, 6-5) rested after getting Wednesday off and encouraged from the close loss in Memorial Gymnasium.
“I think you have to give LSU a lot of credit,” said Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings in a news release. “They played with a lot of purpose in the tempo of the game. This wasn’t a case of us not being ready to play or this being a letdown. LSU came out at the beginning better able to do what they needed to do.”
The fact that this team, winless in conference plays with the only hopes of a postseason embodied in an improbable conference tournament run, still played hard earned them high compliments from Johnson.
“I have good kids, and that’s the tough part about it,” Johnson said. “They have been down 11 times, but they find a way to pick themselves back up, and I think that speaks volumes to their character.”
Contact Chris Branch at [email protected]