There hasn’t been much success for LSU this season.

The Tigers traveled to Starkville, Mississippi, where they fell to 3-13 in conference play, losing 81-69 to the No. 24 ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs.

The takeaways for LSU have continued to grow in a negative way, representing its lack of success on the season.

Cam Carter needs some help

Cam Carter has grown so much since coming to LSU. After spending one year at Mississippi State and two years at Kansas State, the Donaldsonville, Louisiana, native has blossomed in the purple and gold.

Averaging 16.7 points per game and shooting 39% from the three-point line, Carter has established himself as a top-10 scorer in the best conference in the nation.

It was shown early on Saturday, as Carter scored 18 of his 23 points in the first half. It was looking like another big-time game from Carter, but his production slowed in the second half.

It was clear that Mississippi State made it an emphasis to stop Carter in the second half, which they did. The Bulldogs held Carter to five points while shooting 2-for-6 from the field.

When your best player gets all of the attention from the opposing team, someone else has to stand up and help, but there wasn’t much help for Carter.

Only one player outside of Carter made more than three field goals in the game, and that was Derek Fountain, who ended the game with nine points. The only other player to score double figures was Daimion Collins.

Vyctorius Miller left the game early with an apparent lower leg injury and is a player who can get going once he gets hot, but LSU missed his scoring ability in this one.

Carter was responsible for keeping the game close in the first half, but once Mississippi State zoned in on him and slowed him down, the Tigers looked lost.

Not playing 40 minutes of basketball

One of the key points emphasized that LSU wanted to establish as the season continued was playing 40 minutes of basketball and not just 20.

The Tigers have had multiple times where they have kept it close going into the locker room, especially against ranked opponents.

Looking back at their previous games, LSU led by six against No. 2 Florida, trailed by three against No. 5 Tennesee, led by six against No. 25 Ole Miss and even had it tied against No. 4 Alabama.

Nonetheless, the Tigers couldn’t come out with a win in any of these games, and it was the same story against No. 24 Mississippi State.

Entering the half, LSU led by two although they didn’t shoot the ball fairly well in the first half. As the Bulldogs started to figure out how to slow down Carter, LSU couldn’t find other ways to succeed.

The Tigers shot 11-for-30 (36.7%) from the field and 4-16 (25%) from three with no player scoring over double-digit points.

While the Tigers have given themselves a chance every game, they just simply cannot find ways to close it out in the second half and not play a full 40 minutes of basketball.

Size affects the play style

All season long, LSU has shown that its three-point shooting has not been consistent, and against Mississippi State, it was no different.

With the loss of Jalen Reed for the season and Corey Chest not being able to play with a foot injury, the frontcourt for the Tigers has been decimated.

As a result, head coach Matt McMahon has used more guards in the rotation. With fewer frontcourt players, the most consistent way for the guards to get shots has been from the 3-point line.

However, the number of 3-point attempts was surprising against Mississippi State. The Tigers took 36 on Saturday, which is 11 more than their season average of 25.4 per game.

The Tigers shot 9-for-36 (25%) from the 3-point line, continuing their 3-point struggles throughout this season.

The lack of size has forced LSU to play from the outside rather than the inside, in which they’ve had more success at the beginning of the season.

It’s hard for LSU to get to the basket and draw fouls because opposing teams can stack the paint and force a team that only shoots 31.4% from three to take and make 3-pointers consistently.

LSU only shot 10-for-14 (71.4%) from free throw attempts compared to Mississippi State’s 16-for-22 (72.7%). And while the difference wasn’t as drastic to change the trajectory of the game that much, not being able to attack the basket, draw fouls, stop the clock and get players in rhythm forced LSU’s hand to play one way rather than have different options.