STARKVILLE, Miss. — The LSU men’s basketball team travels here Saturday to sold-out Humphrey Coliseum looking for the identifying game that will get its season back on track as the Tigers take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in a 4 p.m. regionally-televised contest.
The game will be LSU’s only SEC appearance on the FSN Saturday night package of games. It marks the start of a two-game road trip for LSU as they will quickly turn around from this game and head to Knoxville on Monday for a Tuesday 9 p.m. EST game on ESPN against the University of Tennessee.
LSU is 13-8 overall, 2-5 in the SEC West, while Mississippi State is 11-9 and also 2-5. The Tigers are coming off four straight losses including a last second loss to Georgia (57-54) last Sunday and a last-minute loss to Alabama Wednesday (73-70) in games in which the Tigers were unable to keep control of the ball or convert chances in the final four minutes of the game.
“The loss (Wednesday) against Alabama put us in a hole,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “We played well, but we haven’t made enough plays to be able to finish a game. I’ve got to do a better job of giving our team what it needs in the last five or six minutes of those games. Last year we were able to win all of those close games, and this year we haven’t been able to.”
LSU got a spark from a new lineup that included sophomore Chris Johnson making his first collegiate start and he responded with a 13-point, three-block performance in 18 minutes. Now Coach Brady and the Tigers hope he can continue to do that.
“He did it in that one game,” said Brady. “I’d like him to do it in about 10. I appreciate what he did last night. It helped our team. When he’s in the game, we’re not nearly as physical around the goal as I’d like. I was proud of him. I couldn’t sleep (after the game). I called all of our players (Wednesday). (Chris and I) talked about 10-15 minutes, and before he hung up he said ‘I just want to thank you for the opportunity you gave me to play.’ That was pretty positive. If we keep that approach and attitude we’ll have a chance. We just gotta finish, and I gotta give them something to allow that to happen.”
Mississippi State comes in on a three-game conference losing streak, having lost 85-73 on Tuesday night in Oxford against Ole Miss. The Tigers will be trying to win their fifth consecutive game in the series against the Bulldogs.
Coach Brady will coach his 300th game as the head coach of the LSU Saturday against Mississippi State as he has the third longest tenure behind only Harry Rabenhorst (29 years) and Dale Brown (25 years) in the 99 seasons on LSU men’s basketball.