With the outcome of the game hanging in the balance, Trent Johnson didn’t have many options.
The LSU coach knew there weren’t many players on his roster that had experience knocking down shots in clutch situations and Saturday would test their mettle.
Johnson’s Tigers were coming out of a timeout, trailing Mississippi State, 58-57, with seven seconds to play.
The only person to touch the ball after that was freshman guard Andre Stringer.
Stringer got the ball, but before he could get off a shot the ball got stripped, bounced across the court and out of bounds as time expired.
“Obviously, there weren’t a lot of guys out on the floor who really wanted to touch it, with the exception of him,” Johnson said. “And he’ll be in that situation a lot more where he’s going to make a lot more plays.”
After Mississippi State (12-10, 4-4) hit two free throws with 1:59 remaining in the game, LSU had three possessions in which it could regain an advantage and win the game.
The Tigers (10-13, 2-6) failed to get off a shot.
In fact, LSU — now losers of five straight — launched just one ball at the bucket in the final 3:23 of the game.
“We would have never been in that situation, just like South Carolina, if we were knocking down shots,” Johnson said. “It’s hard for everybody to understand that, but the last two games we’ve played with good effort, we’ve been in situations where we can win, but we’re not making shots.”
Turnovers plagued the Tigers all day — they committed 13 — but down the stretch they were crippling.
Four of LSU’s final five possessions ended prematurely via turnover.
“I don’t think they did anything different on those last couple possessions,” Stringer said. “I just think our decision making was a little different than the rest of the game. I think we did a pretty good job of making decisions quickly early on in the game, and those last couple plays, we didn’t make them well.”
The last shot LSU was able to manage in the game was a long jump shot from the top of the key by junior forward Garrett Green.
The shot capped off a 3-of-8 shooting day for Green, who had success down low, but struggled with his mid- and long-range shots all afternoon.
In the early going, LSU’s woes from three-point land nearly came to an end.
The Tigers started the night off 4-of-6 from downtown before cooling down faster than this past week’s temperature in Baton Rouge.
After the quick start, LSU missed its next 16 attempts from beyond the arc, before making its final two to finish the day 6-of-24.
Despite the rapid decrease in long range productivity, the Tigers never wavered in their confidence to take 3-pointers.
“The bottom line is, I’m comfortable living and dying [with 3-pointers] when we get shots in position where they have an opportunity to score,” Johnson said. “I spend a lot of time watching my tape, and we’ve had our share of open shots.”
 
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Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]