OXFORD, Miss. — The 16th-ranked LSU men’s basketball team defeated Ole Miss by the largest margin in the 80-game history of the series in Oxford, Miss., 97-53, Wednesday night in Oxford, Miss.
After consecutive record-setting SEC road wins, there’s little question that LSU’s road woes of yesteryear are a thing of the past.
The 44-point margin of victory surpassed a 30-point LSU win (53-23) in Oxford on Jan. 12, 1946. LSU’s largest victory in the 179-game series came in 1989 when LSU beat Ole Miss by 50 in Baton Rouge, 107-57.
Before this win, LSU hadn’t won in Oxford since Jan. 25, 1992.
The Tigers (20-4, 7-4 SEC) earned the 20th win of the season for the first time since 1993, and their second consecutive SEC road game for the first time since January of 1995.
Lamont Roland had his best overall game since beating Oklahoma State on Dec. 29, scoring 17 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
Stromile Swift led the Tigers in scoring with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. Brian Beshara scored 17 for the Tigers, while Torris Bright had 11 points.
The most unheralded part of LSU’s attack — its bench play — came up big again for the Tigers, as Collis Temple, Jermaine Williams, Ronald Dupree and Brad Bridgewater combined to score 30 points and grab 11 rebounds.
In another area where the Tigers have struggled at times, the Tigers shot 30-of-36 from the free throw line. Ole Miss only shot 21 free throws, making 12.
The Tigers fell behind the Rebels after three early turnovers, then went on a 5-0 run to take a 10-8 lead with 14:46 remaining in the first half. Emmanuel Wade and Lamont Roland traded 3’s before Swift scored off a pass from Smith to give LSU a four-point lead, 15-11.
LSU made seven of its first 10 shots from the field in the first eight minutes, while holding Ole Miss to 6-of-15 (40 percent) including three baskets off offensive rebounds.
Behind the defense that’s becoming a staple of John Brady‘s team, the Tigers extended their lead to eight, 23-15. After only playing seven minutes in LSU’s past two games combined, Ronald Dupree came off the bench to turn two steals into transition baskets, score a basket of his own and block a shot in a four-minute span.
LSU’s physical and suffocating man-to-man defense led to three more steals and four more points, increasing the lead to 13 points with 5:03 to play in the half and completing a 12-1 run.
Ole Miss cut the lead to 10 on a three-point play by Marcus Hicks with 3:16 to play in the half. However, Collis Temple and Brian Beshara hit a pair of three-pointers before Brad Bridgewater tipped in a missed basket to give LSU its largest lead, 43-23. The Tigers ended the half with a 10-point run.
After the half, LSU opened the lead to 30 points, 58-28, with 15:45 left in the game. Twelve points of the Tigers’ 17-5 run to open the half came off of layups or dunks created by its defense, with the other four points coming from Swift at the charity stripe.
Bright, who came off the bench when Collis Temple resprained his right ankle, increased the lead to 34, 69-35, with a pull-up three-pointer at the 11:02 mark. Two minutes later, Swift increased LSU’s lead to the largest of the game, 75-37.
LSU emptied its bench beginning at the six-minute mark, as Brandon Landry, Brian Green and Jack Warner came into the game.
LSU returns to action at noon Saturday at Arkansas.