BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team missed multiple opportunities to take the lead late in the contest before falling to upstart Northern Iowa, 54-50, on Monday evening in the Maravich Center.
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Outside of Glen Davis and Darrel Mitchell, LSU (6-2) struggled from the field, as the rest of the Tigers made only 7-of-27 shots (25.9 percent). LSU made only 3-of-10 free throws and 3-of-13 three-pointers.
Darrel Mitchell led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting, while Davis had 13 points on 6 of 13 from the field. The Tigers managed only 41.5 percent for the game (22 of 54).
Northern Iowa (8-1) won their fifth-straight game by shooting 46 percent from the field (22 of 48).
Grant Stout had 18 and Eric Crawford had 12 points to pace the Panthers, while Ben Jacobson scored 11.
Davis hit a short jumper with 11:09 to play in the first half, taking a pass from Tasmin Mitchell off an offensive rebound and scoring in the paint to give LSU a 15-14 lead.
A three pointer by Jacobson — which was the 12th lead change in the first 12 minutes — started a 5-0 run by the Panthers and gave NIU a 23-19 lead.
Thomas answered with an eight-foot jumper from the left baseline, and, after three scoreless minuets, Darrel Mitchell tied the game at 23-23 with 3:45 to play in the half.
After the 3:26 media timeout, Davis looked over a double team and found Darnell Lazare for a layup and a 25-23 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Jacobson earned a three-point way the hard way on a layup and a foul by LSU’s Tack Minor. Minor, who served a University suspension in the fall semester, entered for the first time this season with 4:44 to play in the half.
With nine seconds to play in the half, Tasmin Mitchell came around a screen and hit a 17-foot jumper to give LSU a 27-26 lead — the 15th lead change of the half.
LSU took a three-point lead for the first time in the game, 36-33, when Darrel Mitchell converted a steal by Davis at mid-court into a dunk at the 13:44 mark.
However, Northern Iowa went on a 12-2 run of its own to pull ahead 45-38 with less than eight minutes to play.
Darrel Mitchell scored four straight to bring LSU back to within three, 45-42. But with a chance to tie the game, Temple turned the ball over at the top of the key and Northern Iowa again extended the lead to five.
With little more than three minutes to play, a Darrel Mitchell pull-up three-pointer again moved the Tigers within a possession of the lead, 47-45. But, again, the Panthers converted out of a timeout to move the lead to four.
Davis got the Tigers back to within two, 49-47, on a layup, but failed to convert on the three-point play.
After a Panthers’ turnover, LSU called a full timeout with 1:15 to play. However, Temple dropped a pass on the perimeter and the held-ball gave NIU possession with 55.6 seconds left.
Crawford hit a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to push the lead to five, 52-47, and seal the Panthers’ victory.
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY
Opening Statement…
“I thought our team defensively was pretty good. Fifty-four points at home is pretty good. I’ll take that every time we step on the court. Another thing we ran up against was an experienced team that made plays when they needed to, and our team wasn’t able to make the necessary plays it needed to. We missed some free throws at some critical times, and we missed some nice shots — just a couple 10 feet in front of the goal and just a couple around and in front of the basket. I credit them. They made plays at the critical moments when they needed to, and we had some opportunities and weren’t able to.”
“We didn’t rebound the ball like we had been, which has been a real plus for us. They took that away from us. I think, basically, you saw two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore playing against one senior and some sophomores and freshmen. I think that’s really how the game came about. But I liked our defensive effort. I thought our effort was fine. I told the team, I’ve got no complaints with how hard we tried to do it. They made some big plays and give them credit. We had some opportunities and had some nice looks and went to the free throw line. We just couldn’t convert at the critical moments when we needed to, and therein to me lies the game and what happened.”
“We took care of the ball okay, and we just didn’t make some plays. Sometimes you’ve got to do that in a game like that that’s a possession type of game. You can’t have a careless turnover, or you can’t miss two or three free throws in a row. You can’t miss something around the goal. You’ve got to be able to convert those at critical times. We got the ball where we needed to sometimes, but we just weren’t able to make it. I think our inexperience showed a little bit maybe in that regard. They made some nice plays and made some big shots. They got a back door on us one time when we were trying to pressure. I knew that was a good team way back on media day. They proved it by who they’ve beaten and how they’ve played.”
On Coach Brady saying they need some other players to make shots from the perimeter…
“The guys are struggling. If they can just come in and help us out on defense and help us out on that end then maybe their offensive game will come together. We missed some key shots and some free throws and that kind of hurt us toward the end.”
On the game being a tough test…
“I think we played excellent defense. They execute their offense real well. I think that’s the toughest team we’re going to face execution wise the whole season. We did a good job on them; we just fell short tonight.”
NORTHERN IOWA QUOTES
Head Coach Greg McDermott
“This is a great win for our program, a great win for our league. It is not an easy place to win against a very talented team. I am just very proud of our guys because they were able to follow the plan. Plans are sometimes overrated. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. The plans we came up with allowed us to control the tempo of the game with our defense. Glen Davis and Darrel Mitchell hurt us but I thought they had to work for everything they got. They have more offensive rebounds than their opponents have defensive rebounds on the year. We said that if we leave tonight and the opponents have more defensive rebounds then they have offensive rebounds, we have a great chance to win the game. That was the difference in the game.”
“It has been obvious watching them play that getting the ball to Glen Davis is a big part of what they do. Trying to shake Darrel Mitchell for shots is what they do, along with that when they miss is they get the offensive rebound. We had to keep as many people close to the basket as we possibly could. If it were to become a foot race or an arm wrestling contest, we were going to lose that. We had to be in the right spot. I thought our guys stuck with our plan on the backboards all night long. We felt like that if Darrel Mitchell went off, we still had a chance to win. If Glen Davis went off, I didn’t think we could beat them.”
G Erik Crawford
On the clutch three-point basket with less than 1:00 to play and the game clinching free throws…
“It is just something I look forward to coming down the stretch. Situations like that is what we work on every single day in practice. I took my time and focused on the shot and the free throws. The crowd was in to it.”
On defeating quality opponents in tough environments…
“This environment is not too different. We went to Cincinnati last year and played in a similar environment and we went to the (NCAA) Tournament in a hostile environment where the crowds were for the opponents more than us. We have gotten used to it. You just try to focus and not really worry much about the crowd.”