BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers found themselves so close to the goal at times they could tough it but the ball just wouldn’t go in.
That summed up the Tigers, 61-39, loss at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to Mississippi State in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
LSU shot 23.3 percent (7-30) in the first 20 minutes and missed even more shots in the second half (7-36, 19.4 percent) to finish at 21.2 percent for the contest (14-of-66). Among those shots were 2-of-17 (11.8 percent) at the three-point line and it adds up to the lowest total of points scored by LSU in league play since the 2000-01 season.
The last time LSU shot under 30 percent from the field in a game was Feb. 7, 2001 against Ole Miss, making 12-of-43 shots or 27.9 percent.
LSU (7-8, 0-1 SEC) trailed just 25-19 at the half despite the shooting problems, scoring the last six points of the first half to cut a 12-point deficit in half and then got a three-point play from Anthony Randolph to open the half to cut the game to 25-22. After a Mississippi State miss, on the next possession, Randolph missed a jumper, got the rebound, had a shot blocked out of bounds, keeping the ball with LSU. Marcus Thornton missed a layup and Mississippi State rebounded.
The Bulldogs missed a shot and LSU came back down again down by three and Thornton missed a three-pointer. The Bulldogs missed again and here came LSU back again down by three. Garrett Temple missed a layup, the Tigers rebounded and Thornton missed a layup and the ball went out of bounds still to LSU. Randolph this time missed a jumper.
Mississippi State turned the ball over and the Tigers had the ball amazingly still down by three. Dameon Mason jumper was blocked and State raced back in transition to get a layup by Phil Turner and would scored the next six points to take the lead back to nine essentially putting the Tigers away.
Thornton led LSU with 12 points while Randolph had 10 points and nine boards for the Tigers. Jarvis Varnado had 13 points, 17 rebounds and 7 blocks for Mississippi State (10-5, 1-0), while Jamont Gordon had 13 points and Barry Stewart 11 points and five assists.
LSU travels Saturday to Oxford to play Ole Miss at the Tad Smith Coliseum at 5 p.m. in a game televised by FSN. LSU is back at home next Wednesday night at 7 p.m. to take on Auburn.
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY QUOTES
Opening Statement
“This is what I told our team: When the game was on for 30 minutes or so, I thought we defended them well enough to win the game. They scored 61 points in our building. I don’t even really count the last 10 because the game is over. It’s fair enough to tell our team we held them to 54 points in our building. If you tell me before the game that that is the amount of points Mississippi State scores, I like our chances to win. I like (Mississippi State head coach) Rick (Stansbury) and his team is OK, but I don’t think they guarded us any special way.
“We missed 11 shots in the paint in the first half. I don’t know how many shots we missed in the paint in the second half, but the open jump shots and our inability to make a basket wears on your team as it goes along. You need to be rewarded occasionally. Our team got a little bit discouraged because shots that I assume and they (the players) thought we wanted, I thought we got. If Marcus Thornton and Terry Martin go 4-25, it makes it a little more difficult. I told Anthony Randolph that of the 13 shots he took, 11 or maybe 12 were good shots. I didn’t have any problem with shots Terry Martin took or even Marcus. I’ll know more about it after I watch the tape tonight and in the morning. From a defensive standpoint until the last seven or eight minutes of the game, it was good enough to win it.
“When I see 61 points and we can fairly say Mississippi State comes out there and scores 54, and we can’t come close. We just have to make shots and capitalize on the opportunities that we had because I thought we had some good opportunities and weren’t able to do it. As the game moves along, they (Miss. St.) score a few baskets at the end because our team got a little bit discouraged. I wouldn’t say quit, but I say discouraged because we couldn’t score the ball when we missed shots we normally should be able to make.”
On how the team can improve its shooting …
“I don’t make an issue about it. I don’t rant and rave at the team. It crossed my mind to practice at 12:01, but I don’t think that our problem was taking bad shots or not trying to guard for 30 minutes of the game. They (Miss. St.) didn’t score it either. Still, their amount of points is not our problem. It’s our amount of points and our inability. I just keep encouraging these guys because I really thought when this thing started Marcus Thornton and Terry Martin would be good perimeters for us being able to shoot the ball. Bo Spencer started the year being able to shoot the ball, and now in the last three or four games he has missed some wide open looks at the goal.
“The shot selection, if it was poor, then I would have a real issue with what we’re doing, but tonight our shot selection, just watching it from where I sat, I thought was what we needed to do. We just need to keep doing that, getting the right shots and having the right people shooting the ball. That’s what you go with because you can’t change that. It’s the quality of shot that I worry about. If the quality of shot is good, then we just have to have a few guys make some.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On LSU’s shooting game…
“We have really good chemistry and it usually works well, but today it just seemed flat. We got plenty of good shots. We just couldn’t put them in the basket.”
On the outcome of the game…
“It was something we definitely aren’t used to. We have to work on our identity as a team. It is going to take some hard work and it is going to take some fighting to get to that level.”
On if the shot blocker for Mississippi State made a difference in the way LSU shot…
“I think he did. He had seven blocks so he had an effect on somebody. We knew going into the game he was the lead shot blocker.”
On if the results of this game will carry over into the next game…
“The shooting doesn’t concern me. The mindset of our team after losing an SEC game at home does concern me. We have to put this game behind us because a lot of basketball is mental. We have to find a way to get over the slump.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE HEAD COACH RICK STANSBURY
Opening statement …
“First of all, it feels good to get off to a good start. In this league, any time you go on the road and win, it’s special. What makes it a little more special is that we did it without Charles Rhodes. We won that with game with only one junior. The rest were sophomores and freshmen. We played a team that had one senior and three juniors in their top seven guys. That’s the thing I’m most pleased with. We didn’t have our strongest post player. When that happens, people have to step up.”
“It’s very obvious that Jarvis Varnado stepped up. He had 17 rebounds, 13 points and seven blocked shots. That is huge, considering it was against a very talented player in Anthony Randolph.”
“The thing you have to do in this league is defend and rebound. That is what our team has to do right now. We are not the smoothest offensive team right now. We came into this game trying to bill and sell our guys on what we think they are best at. We held them to 21 percent shooting tonight. We out rebounded them by 11. You’re not always going to shoot it well on the road. If you do shoot well on the road, you’ll win most nights. We aren’t a team that does that consistently yet.”
“It’s a good way to start off the season. One game and one win. We’ll just have to be ready for the next one.”
On holding LSU to only 39 points …
“That was a huge stat. At halftime, they only had 19. The problem with that is we only had 25. Most times, when you hold a team to 19 in a half, you should score 40. We could have very easily caved in when we came out in the second half. They jumped up and made two threes right before the end of the first half.
“At halftime, I told our team that it was going to be a game of toughness. Our strategy was to get stops and score in transition. I thought our kids did it the best we have done. We took easy baskets when we had them. We executed well and shot 53.6 percent in the second half.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE PLAYER QUOTES
G/F Jamont Gordon
On the team’s defensive play…
“We just played hard defense for the whole game. We just shut them down.”
On if playing in transition is the best thing they do…
“It’s definitely the best thing we do. If we can get it going in transition, it opens up a lot of things for us.”
On how good F Jarvis Varnado can be…
“He can be a really good big man in the league, I think. He’s doing very well right now. He’s helping this team out a lot. I’m glad I’ve got him on my team.
“When he first came he could always block shots and he could always rebound the ball. Now he’s gotten stronger and he’s just coming into his game.”
On how the team pressured a shallow LSU team…
“I think that’s a big part of how we stopped them. They didn’t have a lot of people on the bench to come in and play for them so we just pressured them the whole game and got a few blocked shots behind us.”
F JARVIS VARNADO…
On if he’s felt the need to play better offensively over the past few games…
“We need a big man presence in the post so I just had to step up my offensive game and keep doing what I do on defense.”
On how it feels to get 17 rebounds…
“I had to rebound. Usually [F/C Charles Rhodes] and I share the rebounds. With him out, I had to get most of them”
On if they expected to be able to out-rebound LSU by 11 rebounds…
“No. Not by 11. We knew they were a good team. Coach [Rick] Stansbury said that Randolph wasn’t that physical so just go through him and just box him out.”