Coach John Brady and the LSU men’s basketball team suffered their first Southeastern Conference loss of the season Saturday 64-54 at the hands of No. 20 Mississippi State. But even in losing to the Bulldogs, the Tigers (12-2, 2-1 SEC) were able to walk away from the game knowing more about themselves and their ability to claw back into games.
For the second straight SEC game, LSU fell behind by substantial margins and was able to rally itself and get back in the game – although it came up short on Saturday.
Against Alabama on Jan. 10, LSU fell behind 12 points with approximately five minutes left in the game and rallied to top the Crimson Tide, 70-66.
In Saturday’s contest against the Bulldogs, State raced out to a 27-8 lead in front of the largest home crowd of the season of 10,529 and seemed on the verge of putting away the Tigers, who just couldn’t seem to get on track offensively against State’s zone defense.
Two free throws by freshman Tack Minor, a layup by freshman Brandon Bass and a 3-pointer from sophomore Darrel Mitchell cut the lead to 27-15 at halftime and got the Tigers back to within striking distance.
“I thought we should have been a little more aggressive in the first half, shooting the ball,” Brady said at Monday’s practice. “I thought we got a little gun shy. We didn’t shoot the ball at times I thought we should have.”
But a more determined LSU group took the floor in the second half with veterans Antonio Hudson and Xavier Whipple leading the charge.
State upped its lead back to 14 on a 3-pointer by Shane Power but the Tigers answered right back with a trey from Whipple and baskets by Jaime Lloreda, Bass and Regis Koundjia to make it 33-24.
Whipple hit another 3-pointer and drove inside for a layup to cut the lead to four, which got the PMAC crowd back in the game and had the Bulldogs on their heels.
“I took those first couple of shots and it felt good,” said Whipple. “From now on, I guess I will try and take a couple of more shots.”
Whipple, who has been playing with a sore right hand and has had it wrapped in previous games, played without the wrap against State and scored all eight of his points in the second half. He said the team knows it should never get too down on itself no matter how big the deficit.
“We were down [18 points] and we came back and took the lead,” he said. “That lets people see that we’re never going to give up and continue to work hard. I think that could be a positive for us.”
Two jump shots from Hudson and a layup from Lloreda tied the game and the Tigers would later take a 42-40 lead on another 3-pointer from Mitchell.
“The thing about this team that I’m so impressed with is we never give up,” said Hudson, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half. “To me it seems like we play better whenever we’re behind. I never gave up. But it’s a fact that we don’t need to get that far behind because it’s kind of hard to come back, especially in the SEC.”
The Tigers seemed to use all their energy getting back in the game and were not able to maintain the lead. Despite that, Brady was impressed with his team’s character.
“Being down 18 and coming back and taking the lead was a real positive thing,” he said. “Our team could have allowed it to get away from us and it could have been ugly. What it does say is you come out every game and play the best you can. And you may have a chance in this crazy league that we play in.”
“I’ve always expected to play hard and win the game regardless of the time left or the score. Our team, for a 12-minute period in the second half, really dominated the game.”