BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers held on for dear life in the late stages of the game Wednesday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to defeat Louisiana-Lafayette, 81-79, to run its current home winning streak to 14 games dating back to the final three games of a year ago.
LSU struggled to hold on to a lead it had built to 14 points with 15 minutes to play as the Cajuns bombed home seven three-pointers in the second half and took the Tigers one-on-one on many other possessions for buckets.
LSU lead 72-62 with 3:54 to go after a fast break dunk by Tasmin Mitchell but two free throws by Chris Gradnigo and a three-pointer by Randell Daigle, playing only his second game of the season after breaking his hand in the preseason cut the game to 72-67. Bo Spencer then committed an offensive foul and Daigle hit a jump shot to cut it to 72-69 with 1:58 left.
Chris Johnson hit a put back short shot for LSU to make it 74-69, but Gradnigo hit a trey to make it 74-72 for LSU with 1:13, putting LSU’s now 73-game winning streak against Louisiana schools in serious jeopardy for the second straight game. The Cajuns elected to foul and Mitchell made two free throws to make it 76-72.
Spencer fouled on the other end and Daigle made one free throw to make it 76-73 at the 46 second mark. Mitchell hit another clutch jumper to make it 78-73 with 24 seconds left only to have Daigle come down and hit another trey to cut it to 78-76 with 12 seconds to play.
Thornton hit two clutch free throws with 10 seconds to make it 80-76 and then stepped in front of a pass for a steal and was fouled with three seconds to play. Thornton made the second of two free throws to make it 81-76 and Daigle came down and hit his fifth trey of the game at the buzzer for the final two-point margin.
“(Louisiana-Lafayette was) pretty good and we weren’t” said LSU Coach Trent Johnson. “We managed to find a way to win. There were some disturbing things that went on our there, and it’s not on the players as much as it is on me. One thing I’ve come to realize over the years is you play like you practice, and the game is real fair. Obviously, I didn’t push enough of the right buttons over the last two days to make sure they understood the sense of urgency in which they had to come out and defend against this group, who like I said earlier in really talented. The good thing is we found a way to win down the stretch, and I thought Garrett (Temple) and Tasmin (Mitchell) both were pretty good at crucial times late in the second half.”
Mitchell led LSU with a career high 25 points with three assists and six steals, while Bo Spencer had 20 points and four assists. Marcus Thornton had 12 points with his late free throws keeping his double figure scoring streak alive at eight, and Garrett Temple had 10 points and six assists. Chris Johnson had 13 rebounds to lead the Tigers, although LSU was out rebounded for the second straight game, 34-31.
Daigle led Louisiana-Lafayette with 24 points with Chris Gradnigo getting 13, Travis Bureau 13 and Gary La’Ryan 11.
LSU ran its record to 11-1 on the season while Louisiana-Lafayette fell to 4-8.
“I thought we lost our poise,” Johnson said when asked to discuss the “disturbing things” he saw. “I thought we had some careless turnovers, and I thought we had some guys who didn’t play through things, and that’s as much of an elaboration as I’m going to give. The responsibility falls on me, and that’s something we have to get worked out in practice. For us to give up 48 points in the second half on our home floor, that’s not acceptable.”
LSU takes on Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, the final home game before a two-game road trip to Utah (Jan. 6) and Alabama (Jan. 11) to open SEC play. Tickets for the SLU game are available online at LSUsports.net.
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON
Opening statement…
“They were pretty good, and we weren’t. We managed to find a way to win. There were some disturbing things that went on out there, and it’s not on the players as much as it’s on me. One thing I’ve come to realize over the years is you play like you practice, and this game is real fair. Obviously, I didn’t push enough of the right buttons over the last two days to make sure they understood the sense of urgency in which they would have to come out and defend against this group, who like I said earlier is really talented. The good thing is we found a way to win down the stretch, and I thought Garrett (Temple) and Tasmin (Mitchell) both were pretty good at crucial times late in the second half.”
On elaborating on the “disturbing things” that went on…
“I thought we lost our poise. I thought we had some careless turnovers, and I thought we had some guys who didn’t play through things, and that’s as much of an elaboration as I’m going to give. The responsibility falls on me, and that’s something we have to get worked out in practice. For us to give up 48 points in the second half on our home floor, that’s not acceptable.”
On Louisiana-Lafayette breaking down LSU off the dribble…
“There was a disappointment just from the standpoint that they (Louisiana-Lafayette) are all 1-on-1 basketball players, and that’s what they do, and they do a pretty good job of it, but more so than that, we lost contact on numerous occasions with shooters. Those are breakdowns defensively, and as much as we emphasize it, this was the first time with this group this year that we’ve had those kinds of breakdowns, and that’s disturbing. I’ve got to believe we’ll bounce back and be better next time out.”
On the schedule…
“First of all, the schedule was set up for this team to blend and understand a new system. We’ve won our share of games, but the last time I checked, the last five or six games, we haven’t dominated anybody. This schedule was set up because we had some guys academically who we couldn’t have on the road, and secondly, from a standpoint of physically, we’ve had some guys who have been injured and have been broken down. It’s real obvious when we see what’s happened with Bo (Spencer), Marcus, Quintin’s (Thornton’s) shoulder and with Garrett Green‘s back. Those kinds of things you have to take into consideration. In terms of success, we’re 11-1, but I think these guys are very realistic about where we are at, and I know I am. That is this, and that is this only. Our margin of error is extremely slim. We have to be at a fever pitch from one end of the floor defensively and rebounding regardless of who we play.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Forward Garrett Temple
Opening statement…
“It shouldn’t have been that close from the start. Louisiana-Lafayette is a very athletic team. You have to give them credit. They came out a made a lot of tough shots, especially toward the end of the game. When you give a team confidence like that, anything can happen at the end. The win is all that matters. We came out and got the ?W.’ We need to find a way after an emotional loss or win to come back and play better.”
Forward Tasmin Mitchell
On his big game offensively…
“I just tried to execute in situations that my teammates gave me. I did that a little bit, but it’s all about how we played. We didn’t play a great game, but like Garrett said, we came out with the victory.”
Guard Marcus Thornton
On his play down the stretch…
“We knew they were a good team coming into the game. We just tried to stay poised on defense. They hit a couple of shots at the end. I read the man’s eyes near the end of the game, and I knew he would try to get it up the court fast. I just stepped in front of it (to make the steal), and I tried to go knock down some free throws to seal the game.”
Guard Bo Spencer
Opening statement…
“They knocked down some big shots at the end, but we came out with the ?W.’ We should have played more aggressive from the start. We should have been the aggressors. Give credit to them. They played well. We have to learn how to come out and play harder next time.”