BATON ROUGE — LSU senior guard Darrel Mitchell set the school record for career three pointers, as the No. 25 LSU men’s basketball overcame a 10-point deficit in the opening minutes to dispose of Mississippi State, 72-59, on Wednesday night in the Maravich Center.
The Tigers (17-7, 9-2 SEC) rebounded from losing two of three at Florida and at Alabama in the past 11 days. Mississippi State, which is tied with Auburn for last place in the SEC, fell to 12-12 overall and 2-9 in the SEC.
Both teams shot poorly from the field, with the Tigers hitting 38.3 percent of its field goals (23 of 60) including 3-of-11 from three-point range. The Bulldogs made 22 of 63 field goals for 34.9 percent.
The free throw line provided the cushion LSU needed. They made 23 of 32 — 13 more than Mississippi State.
LSU’s Glen Davis led all scorers with 19 points, while Tyrus Thomas and Darrel Mitchell each had 16.
Charles Rhodes led Mississippi State with 14 points, while Dietric Slater and Jamont Gordon each added 11.
The Tigers started 1-of-6 from the field with three turnovers and five fouls to fall behind 12-2 less than four minutes into the game.
Garrett Temple hit three free throws after being fouled beyond the arc to key an 11-2 LSU run and bring the Tigers within one, 14-13, with 13:22 to play in the half.
Darrel Mitchell gave LSU its first lead, 18-16, and tied the school record for three pointers made at the 10:13 mark. His 237th field goal from long range matched Torris Bright’s effort from 2000-03.
LSU extended the run to 27-6 to lead 29-18 on consecutive baskets by Darnell Lazare and a pair of free throws by Darrell Mitchell.
The Tigers led 34-27 at halftime, as each team made less than 35 percent of its field goal attempts.
A 9-2 LSU spurt to start the second half pushed the lead to 43-29 with 15:51 to play.
Darrel Mitchell‘s record-setting three pointer with 10:13 left in the game gave LSU its largest advantage, 55-37. However, the Bulldogs answered with nine-straight points get within nine at the 6:25 mark.
Mississippi State hit consecutive three pointers to close the gap to 63-56 with under three minutes to play.
The game included five technical fouls, including one on each head coach, LSU’s Tyrus Thomas and Tasmin Mitchell, and Mississippi State’s Charles Rhodes.
LSU next travels to face Auburn on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 5 p.m. CT. on Fox Sports Net.
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY
Opening Statement…
“The final score was 72-59 LSU. That’s the best thing, and as long as that keeps happening I’m a happy camper. But I thought defensively we were good enough to win the game. I really thought we had a lot of opportunities offensively and just missed some baskets we normally have made. Tasmin Mitchell‘s playing with a really sore back and affected his play tonight, particularly shooting the ball and moving his feet a little bit. His back has really tightened up on him and it was giving him a little bit of difficulty the last couple of days in practice and it was hurting him bad tonight.”
“I was glad to see Tyrus Thomas to come back and play better offensively. I know Glen Davis got 19 points and 13 rebounds, and that was a great job by both of those guys to get double figure rebounds. Again, several of our guys missed some easy baskets around the goal and missed some open shots that we normally have made. But at least we did get to the foul line. I thought early on we were never going to get to the foul line from what I was watching. But finally we did our job and we got to the foul line as we should have. Sometimes our team, at least recently, throws the ball inside like we do and sometimes not as pretty as it needs to be, but when you get to the foul line and make free throws you’ve got a chance.”
“Darrel Mitchell tonight missed some easy baskets that he normally makes. He’s 6-for-11 from the free throw line. Then late in the game we some really careless, careless giveaways not as a result of the pressure, not as a result of them double teaming us. Just some careless decisions with the ball. For the game we had 15 turnovers. They had 14, so it’s really a tradeoff. We just made three or four there late that were really poor decisions, and we’ve got to do a better job of that obviously. Certainly our ability to rebound the ball, our ability to get to the free throw line and our ability to guard for 40 minutes and hold them to 34 percent shooting was the difference in the game when offensively we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we’re capable of doing, particularly at home.”
LSU Player Quotes
On his playing better than the last three games…
“I’ve just been in a slump both offensively and defensively in these past three games and I just needed to regroup. I came out focused and with a lot of energy. I played a lot more aggressively and just a lot better than I’ve played the last three games.”
G Darryl Mitchell
On being tired…
“I did get a little tired in this game. I think all the minutes I’ve been playing are kind of catching up with me. I just need to rest, sleep and rejuvenate myself.”
On setting a new LSU 3-point record…
“It was a big accomplishment, but we have bigger and better things we want to accomplish this season. I’ll just take it as something that I can carry with me in my life. It was a great accomplishment for me personally.”
On LSU’s slow start…
“We struggled offensively and we gave them a lot of easy baskets and foul shots. We picked it up in the second half and got some baskets and were able to get the win.”
On the physical way the game was played…
“It was a gut check. We needed to go out there and do some things to win the ball game. We just showed character in the way we played and the things that we did. I’m just proud of the team for executing and doing what the coach said to get the game won. It just shows our desire to win and get the job done.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE HEAD COACH RICK STANSBURY
Opening Statement…
“I have to give LSU credit. They’re one of the best teams in the country. They beat us on the backboard and made plays when they needed to make plays. Our team fought and battled. We only had 14 turnovers, but of those 14 probably 12 were unforced turnovers. The positive thing was I was proud of the kids’ effort. It’s tough to go on the road though and not make your free throws and have too many unforced turnovers. Our margin of error for victory is too small for that to happen.”
On Mississippi State’s free throw troubles…
“All I know is we were 6-for-13 at halftime (from the free-throw line) and it was a seven-point game. We only had nine turnovers, but seven of them were unforced. If you go on the road, particularly against this team, you have no margin for error to go 6-for-13 at the free-throw line. We’re just not good enough for that to happen, especially not against a team like LSU.”
On MSU’s defensive efforts…
“I thought defensively that we can’t go on the road and play much better than we did tonight. Does that mean we were good? Nope. It just means that when we go on the road and hold them to 38 percent shooting against that size, that’s good for us. The foul line was the difference in the first half. They (LSU) had 15 makes at halftime.”
On where LSU’s talent ranks in the conference…
“They’re the best. They’ve got one of the best frontcourts in the country. They have one of the best guards in this league and in the country. Where John’s (Brady) problem lies is that he has no margin for error with injury. He has zero margin for error with injury. There’s two McDonald’s All-Americans in that back line, and the best one wasn’t one. Remember that? Tyrus Thomas wasn’t one. Baby Shaq (Glen Davis) and Tasmin Mitchell were. And the other one’s the best of the three. So that tells you where their talent level is right there. They’re good. Darrel Mitchell is the key to that basketball team though.”