BATON ROUGE — Tasmin Mitchell scored 19 points and Terry Martin added 15, as the 16th-ranked LSU men’s basketball team won its 19th-consecutive SEC home contest, 62-55, over Ole Miss on Wednesday.
LSU (13-4, 2-1 SEC) never trailed, but led by only one point in the final five minutes before putting away the Rebels (12-6, 1-3 SEC).
The Tigers shot 46 percent from the field (21 of 46), while holding Ole miss to only 40 percent (24 of 60). The winning margin came at the free throw line, where LSU outscored Ole MIss, 15-1.
Joining Mitchell and Martin in double figures scoring was Glen Davis. Despite being held scoreless for 22 minutes and only taking nine shots, “Big Baby” managed 11 points and eight rebounds.
However, it was the clutch scoring of the two LSU small forwards that was the difference. Mitchell was 6-of-14 shooting while Martin was 5-of-10.
Mitchell also led the Tigers on the boards with 10 rebounds. Point guard Garrett Temple had a game-high seven assists.
The Rebels were led by Clarence Sanders scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half. Forward Dwayne Curtis added 11 on 5-of-11 shooting, while Kenny Williams had 10 on 5-of-7 shooting. Curtis also had a game-high 12 rebounds, including six offensive boards.
As Ole Miss struggled from the field early (4 of 16), Martin hit a three pointers and Mason made consecutive acrobatic shots to cap a 7-0 LSU run and give the Tigers a 20-10 lead with 8:03 to play in the half.
Mitchell answered a Doyne three with a pair of jumpers to force an Ole Miss timeout, as the Rebels trailed by the widest margin of the night, 24-13.
Ole Miss scored six-straight points to cut the lead to five, 24-19.
However, an alley-oop dunk by Magnum Rolle and a Mitchell free throw pushed LSU’s lead to eight, 29-21.
LSU led 29-23 at the half.
The Tigers again extended the lead to nine, 34-25, on Martin’s third three pointer of the evening. The Rebels answered the run with a Doyne three pointer and back-to-back baskets and a free throw by Curtis to get within two, 37-35.
A wrap-around layup by Martin extended the LSU advantage to six, 43-37, and forced a timeout by Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy.
Coming out of the timeout, Sanders scored five-straight to cut the LSU lead to one, 43-42.
Davis, who was held scoreless for 22 minutes, then broke his drought with a power layup to stop the bleeding.
Leading by one, 47-46, LSU used three pointers by Martin and Mitchell to again extend the lead to seven, 53-46, with 3:56 to play.
Ole Miss got no closer than five.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 20, at 2:45 p.m. CT when they travel to Fayetteville to face Arkansas. The game will be televised by CBS.
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY QUOTES
Opening statement…
“Our saving grace right now is our defense. We need to get a little bit better offensively. At least we made the plays down the stretch we needed to win the game. I thought they got some offensive rebounds in the last five or six minutes that normally we would get. The most important thing is we made the plays necessary to win the game. As a coach I know we are going to have to play better for the place we are going to on Saturday (Arkansas.) We are going to correct some things, particularly offensively. From a defensive standpoint I don’t have many complaints. We can’t put it on our defense to win the game every night. We need to get better offensively. For some reason Glen (Davis) has not been involved as much as he should the last couple of nights. However, it is great to win and I will never apologize for it or give it back. There are just some things we need to get better at for us to be the kind of team we want to be.”
On why the team struggled offensively at times…
“We don’t execute as well as I would like. We improved down the stretch because we came out a couple of timeouts with more energy and did what we wanted to do. But it’s almost like our team developed a sense of urgency when they thought things might not go our way. We are not as good offensively as we were a year ago. We rush a little bit at times and don’t make plays as well as I would like. When we had an 11 point lead, if we had just two or three more stops and made two or three more shots it would have been a 16 point lead which would have made it very difficult for the opponent to come back.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On the success of the defense and the struggle of the offense …
“We have to find our roles in the offense. Defensively we’re playing great team defense. We’re stopping people on the defensive end of the court, but when we come back on offense we have some troubles. We either shoot too quick or think we see a shot and we shoot it. We don’t be patient. We still have a lot to do with the offense and more execution and being poised about the offense.”
On holding Ole Miss without a free throw until the second half …
“It was just hesitancy on their (Ole Miss) part because we went out and played great team defense. We knew that (Ole Miss guard) Bam Doyne comes in shooting more free throws than he had shot attempts, and we tried to stop that, just stay in front of him, just play great defense without fouling. That would stop them from going to (free throw) line, so that’s what we did.”
On his consistent offensive play this season …
“I have been trying to do what my team wants, what I know I’m capable of. That’s been taking great shots, just trying to find my role in the offense. We’ve got big fella (LSU F Glen Davis), so I’m trying to get him a little help. And then some nights (LSU G) Terry Martin gets us some help. Everybody’s capable of doing the same thing.”
On how he and Tasmin Mitchell stepped up the scoring for the team in the second half …
“I think they were double teaming Glen (Davis) every time he got the ball, so the perimeter guys we knew we had to step up. So they double teamed on Glen, so I just kicked it out to Tasmin or Garrett. We just tried to help and knock down a shot.”
On the solid defensive effort by the team …
“We try to defend every game. Our defense has been pretty good up till now, and we just buckled down. In crunch time you have to bow up and just guard your man.”
OLE MISS HEAD COACH ANDY KENNEDY
Opening Statement
“The biggest disappointment for me is the amount of time we spend on individual development, individual players stepping into shots, making plays off of the dribble because ultimately that is what it comes down to. Early in the season, you may trick somebody with a play here or a play there. You maybe can run an out-of-bounds play that they haven’t seen, but when you get this deep in the season, LSU knows Ole Miss. Ole Miss knows LSU. It comes down to who’s going to make plays. Certainly, the game is not going to be FedEx over night to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Neither coach was very happy with the flow of the game.”
“We are down by one and Terry Martin makes an SEC-level play off of the dribble, makes a shot. Tasmin Mitchell jumps up and sticks a big shot. Big Baby (Glen Davis) makes a pro shot because he’s a pro. During those same trips, we don’t even get a shot at the basket. Dwayne Curtis gets doubled and we throw it away. Todd (Abernethy) got a little bit out of control one time. In hence, all of a sudden the game gets away from you. It’s such a fine line, and we’ve done that with our three SEC losses. At the end of the game, our effort is pretty good. We have a feel of what we need to do to be successful, so it is just now a matter of us stepping up and making plays.”
On defending LSU’s Glen Davis …
“You have to give up something. It’s almost like against Kentucky. We play a good bit of zone (defense). We try to change our looks on him just to keep him out of rhythm. Obviously, we would have a hard time matching up with him man-to-man, so you have to give up something. Good teams take advantage of that. Terry Martin is coming off of his career-high against Auburn. He had 23. We told our guys, don’t leave open 13. You give him a seam and he makes you pay.”
OLE MISS PLAYER QUOTES
Guard Todd Abernethy
“LSU is a great team. We stuck with them the whole game. They made some big plays down the stretch. They have some great pro players. They just stepped up when the team needed it. I was proud of how we fought and came back. We didn’t shoot the ball well tonight. We missed a lot of opportunities, but to be in there with just a couple of minutes left is just great.”