The LSU basketball team fell victim to a combination of downright offensive ineptitude and an inability to stop Ole Miss’ best players in falling to the Rebels (9-6, 1-3 Southeastern Conference) 53-49 Wednesday night in Oxford, Miss.
Senior guard Aaron Harper and senior forward Justin Reed, who were averaging a combined 32.5 points per game prior to Wednesday’s tilt, accounted for almost 72 percent of the Rebels offense Wednesday night. The duo combined for 38 points on 15-of-33 shooting from the field and gave LSU (12-3, 2-2 SEC) problems all night.
Even though the rest of Ole Miss’ offense was nearly non-existent, with the next best contribution coming from junior forward Tommie Eddie who scored seven points, it could not compare to the putrid show LSU’s offense put on as it continued to struggle to put the ball in the basket.
The Tigers shot 36 percent from the field for the game, and were 5-for-19 from behind the 3-point line.
They had only one player score in double figures, as senior forward Jaime Lloreda put down 14 points, and the guard combination of Tac Minor, Antonio Hudson and Darrel Mitchell were 1-for-10 from the 3-point line, combining to score 15 points total.
“That was the most inept offensive team I believed I’ve ever coached,” said LSU coach John Brady after the game on his radio show. “We couldn’t make a play, we couldn’t make good shots, we missed lay-ups, and we would go 1-for-2 from the free throw line. I don’t know.”
Brady said he was befuddled by his team’s inability to score the basketball, especially with the fine defensive effort his team displayed for most of the game.
Ole Miss shot 37.5 percent from the field and 3-of-16 from the 3-point line.
“We come to Oxford and hold them to 53 points on their home floor,” Brady said. “They shoot 37 percent from the floor, 18 [percent] from the three… we play good defense without fouling, we outrebound them … If you knew that on the front end, you’d say LSU wins the game … It’s just we don’t execute offensively, and then when we had opportunities to win the game, which we put ourselves in position to win this game, we were just inept offensively because we couldn’t make a play when we needed to make a play.”
The game was closely matched throughout with Ole Miss pulling away several times but LSU closing the gap, only to see the Rebels widen the lead over and over.
The teams traded baskets early on, with LSU holding a 9-8 lead at the outset. The Rebels then went on one of their mini-runs, scoring seven consecutive points, before LSU ended it and went on an 8-0 run of its own moments later. At that point the score was tied at 19.
Then Ole Miss went on another run, taking advantage of two consecutive LSU turnovers to score six consecutive points. The Rebels used that spurt to pull to a 32-26 halftime lead.
The Rebels extended that lead to 10 points at the start of the second half before LSU went on a 7-0 run to pull within three points.
But once again, the Rebels were able to answer, pulling ahead 50-42 with 5:50 remaining.
LSU responded, using mainly free throws to pull within two points with the score being 50-48.
After that point, neither team was able to get anything going offensively, as Ole Miss finished off LSU for the Rebels for SEC victory.
LSU made two field goals in the final 11:10 of the game.
The Tigers stay on the road for their next game, facing South Carolina Saturday at 6:30 in Columbia, S.C.
Rebels outlast Tigers, 53-49
January 22, 2004