OXFORD, Miss. — The LSU Tigers, after a struggling night of trying to score in the Southeastern Conference opener Wednesday at home against Mississippi State, gets no favor from league schedule makers as they face nationally-ranked Ole Miss here Saturday at a sold-out Tad Smith Coliseum.
The 16th-ranked (AP) Rebels and Tigers meet at 5 p.m. in the first half of the FSN Saturday night doubleheader. The broadcast of the game will also be heard on the LSU Sports Radio Network, in the “GeauxZone” at LSUsports.net and on the SEC channels of XM Satellite Radio.
The Tigers are 7-8 and 0-1 in the Southeastern Conference after the 61-39 loss to State as LSU shot just 21 percent from the field, the first time the Tigers had shot under 30 percent since 2001. LSU was down six at the half and scored the first three points of the second half and then had eight shots, including two three-shot possessions, to close the gap further before the Bulldogs ran off six straight points to essentially put the game away.
“I’ve never been involved in a game where the inability of our team couldn’t make shots we normally make,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “It was tough on our players to be involved in that. You need to make some baskets to keep your spirits high. With Tasmin (Mitchell) out and Chris Johnson out who was developing into a nice player for us, our shortcomings around the goal are more evident, our inability to rebound is more evident. We only have three or four guys that can really score for us and they have got to have good games every night. Terry Martin and Marcus Thornton were a combined four for 25 and when we looked at the film they grade out at 21 shots that we would take again.”
Ole Miss, overlooked by most of the preseason selectors, picked fifth in the SEC Western Division, won its first 13 games before narrowly losing, 85-83, at Tennessee on Wednesday in their conference opener. Chris Warren, a freshman guard, leads the team in scoring at 15.9 points a game with Eniel Polynice averaging 12.6 and Davie Huertas scoring at a 10.2 points per game pace. Warren, who has scored in double figures in every game, scored a season high 24 at Tennessee, while Polynice had 20 points.
Against Mississippi State, Marcus Thornton led LSU with 12 points while Anthony Randolph had 10.
“We’ve got to bounce back mentally and believe that we can score and just get it done,” said Brady. “There is nowhere else to go. The quality of our shot was good for the most part against Miss. State…defensively we were solid until the last five or six minutes.”
The Rebels won two of the three meetings a year ago with both teams winning at home and then taking a quarterfinal game at the 2007 SEC Tournament.
“There is no forgiveness in this league,” said Brady. “(Tad Smith Coliseum) is one of the most difficult places to play in the league when they have people there and they will certainly have people there when we play on Saturday with the success they have been having.”
LSU returns home on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to take on Auburn. Tickets are on sale online at www.LSUSports.net.