BATON ROUGE — LSU Coach John Brady tried his best to get his point across about the Ole Miss Rebels, Saturday’s opponent in the Maravich Assembly Center.
Apparently, not enough people were paying attention as the Rebels knocked off 23rd-ranked LSU, 67-57, before a paid crowd of 9,895 at the PMAC.
The Tigers dropped to 12-3 on the season (1-2) in the league going into road dates with Arkansas and Mississippi State this coming week. Ole Miss is now 10-4 on the season and 1-2 as well.
“Well I tried to tell our team and everybody else that would listen, but nobody listens, that Ole Miss was an NCAA Tournament team last year with four returning starters and for some reason nobody ever thought they were that good. I have respect for every coach in the league but one of the coaches I have the most respect for is Rod Barnes because of the way he gets his team to play hard every game. They have four starters back from an NCAA tournament team a year ago and nobody gave them a lot of credit and I do not get it . I do not think our team ever really gave this team the respect it need. (LSU) learned a lesson today because that team out-toughed us for 40 minutes.
The Tigers were unable to score offensively, being held to 38.5 percent from the field and 1-of-13 from three-point range. For the third straight SEC game, the LSU opponent shot 50 percent from the floor; another point Brady has been trying to get across.
“The other bottom line is we could not make an open shot and the thing about our team that concerns me and I say it and nobody listens is we cannot guard anybody in our league. We have not held a league team to under 50 percent shooting yet. Our team did not come out ready to play as they needed and I will take responsibility for that. At some point in time you cannot rely on shooting. I am telling you if your team is not based on defending and rebounding then you have no chance to win significantly on a consistent basis.”
Jaime Lloreda led LSU with 14 points, while Darrel Mitchell added 12 and Ronald Dupree 12 points and 12 rebounds. Dupree and Lloreda each shot 50 percent from the field, while the other four players who took shots were 11-of-34 (32 percent). Justin Reed led Ole Miss with 17 points, while Aaron Harper and Emmanuel Wade each had 16 points, while Derrick Allen had 10.
“I think LSU has a very good basketball team, and we were very fortunate,” said Ole Miss Coach Rod Barnes. “I thought at the end we made some lays. I thought as a team we were a whole lot more aggressive. We still have a lot of work to do. This was a team win and one that was much needed for this basketball team.”
Ole Miss had the lead much of the first 13 minutes, opening up a five-point, 17-12, advantage at the 10 minute mark on a jumper by Allen. LSU would tie the game for the first time and take the lead on two free throws by Darrel Mitchell, 22-21, at the 6:29 mark of the opening half.
Ole Miss would tie the game at 28 and 30 before a Ronald Dupree basket and free throw and a tip-in by Mitchell at the horn gave LSU a 35-32 halftime advantage.
The Rebels came out quickly, took the lead and opened up a six-point advantage, 43-37, on a three-pointer by Wade. But LSU went on an 11-2 run on buckets by Torris Bright and Lloreda, a three-point play by Antonio Hudson and a Dupree layup that put LSU up 46-45 at the 12:10 mark. LSU would add two more lay-ups by Hudson and Collis Temple III and LSU had a 50-45 lead with 10:19 to
play. The Tigers had a couple of chances to possess the ball and extend the lead, but couldn’t convert and Ole Miss ran off a 10-point run of their own to go up 55-50 five minutes later. LSU got to within two at 55-53 when Darrel Mitchell made three free throws with 4:43 to go, but the Rebels were too much down the stretch, holding LSU to four points the rest of the way.
“The making of timely baskets is what it is and we could not do that today and for 40 minutes Ole Miss was tougher than we were and we lose,” said Brady.
The Tigers play Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. There will be no television for the game, but it will be available on radio at the LSU Sports Network and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.