LSU freshman forward Ben Simmons drove baseline, beating Oklahoma forward Khadeem Lattin to the basket, and slammed the ball behind his back for a reverse, two-handed jam. The dunk highlighted an 8-0 Tiger run to begin the second half of Saturday’s contest against the No. 1 Sooners, stretching the home team’s lead to 14 points in a game it mostly dominated.
Yet, in a matchup billed as a battle between two of the sport’s very best – Simmons and Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield – the road superstar’s effortless triples paved the way for a 77-75 win in dramatic fashion.
Hield scored 21 of his 32 points in the second half, all of which came on 3-pointers, and fellow guard Isaiah Cousins’ game-winning jumper with 3.8 seconds left erased LSU’s upset attempt at the PMAC during the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
LSU junior guard Tim Quarterman, who led the Tigers with 18 points, had a chance to tie to the game on the final possession, as he raced up the floor off the inbound. But, his drive to the basket was stuffed by Lattin and no foul was called.
“Emotions were high after [Cousins] hit a big shot,” Quarterman said. “I tried to get the ball as fast as I could to the other end of the court. I made it to the other end and tried to make a tough layup. There was definitely contact but there was no foul (called). We can’t hang our heads on that.”
While Simmons was the Tigers’ catalyst for the first part of the second period, scoring 10 of his 14 points, the rookie Australian failed to score in the final 10 minutes of the game. Simmons attempted just one shot during that span, but he believed the team as a whole got away from what was successful offensively.
“I think it’s going with what works,” Simmons said. “Me going inside was working and then me kicking it out was working. [LSU sophomore forward] Craig [Victor II] was posting up and then we hit the outside shots. We were doing well in the first half, and we went away from it in that second half.”
“He did a good job of making plays and getting the ball to the other guys, setting screens, spacing the floor,” said LSU coach Johnny Jones on Simmons’ performance in the second half. “They did a good job of trying to make sure that they got in the gaps, defensively, not allowing (us) to try to drive the ball. We wanted to run some high-low action to him inside there. They did a good job of trying to prevent us from getting it down in there on the post.”
Despite leading by 10 midway through the second half, Hield and the Sooners stormed back on 12-0 run, taking the lead on Hield’s back-to-back treys before the final media timeout. The nonconference foes traded baskets down the stretch, as Oklahoma took a three-point advantage on a jumper from Cousins with 1:10 left.
In the final minute, the Sooners had two one-and-one opportunities to seal the Tigers’ fate. Both attempts, though, rimmed out, allowing LSU freshman guard Antonio Blakeney to tie the game with a 3-pointer from the wing with 24 seconds left.
Out of an Oklahoma timeout, Cousins kept the ball himself after Hield faked a screen, which caused LSU sophomore guard Jalyn Patterson to hesitate and Quarterman to chase Hield. With Patterson a step behind Cousins with no help, the senior point guard nailed the elbow jumper.
“I was basically seeing what Buddy’s man [was] going to do,” Cousins said. “If he was going to show on the screen, then I was going to throw it right back to Buddy. But, he just stayed with Buddy, so I just thought a dribble pull-up would be good.”
LSU started the game firing on all cylinders, as it finished the half shooting well over 50 percent from both the field and from 3-point territory. In total, the Tigers bested the best three-point shooting team in the nation in the first half, draining 7-of-12 attempts.
LSU led by as many 13 on the backs of standout first-half performances from Quarterman and Victor, who completed the period with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
While Simmons wasn’t dominant offensively in the first half, he provided the Tigers with five of their eight first-half assists. Hield, however, led the Sooners in scoring in the first period, knocking down 4-of-11 shots for 11 points to go with five rebounds.
Hield found it surprising the Tigers were having so much success around the perimeter in the first half, but he has come to expect that when playing for No. 1 team in the nation.
“It was weird watching film,” Hield said. “They never seemed to make a lot shots, but being the number one team in the country, everybody wants to play you. You have a target on your back. Of course guys are going to make shots, but we just got to grind it out. We’re a veteran ball club and coach [Lon Kruger] is doing a good job leading us. He just told us stick together as a group. Like I said, Isaiah coming in the second half he set the tone for us and that’s what veterans do.”
In the second half, it was mostly Hield for the Sooners offensively, as he nailed seven of his eight total triples after halftime. As Jones pointed out, the Tigers needed to be nearly flawless in order to steal a victory from the top-ranked team, which makes the loss another learning lesson in an up-and-down season, Simmons said.
“I learned that we have to keep going,” Simmons said. “We have to play the full game and not take our foot of the gas. We did a pretty good job but they hit big shots. We’ve had this situation a couple times throughout the year and we’ve gotten better each time.”