BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers won for the 17th consecutive time at home and more importantly for the third straight time in the league Wednesday night with a convincing 81-57 win over Mississippi State at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU and Mississippi State are now tied for the lead in the Southeastern Conference Western Division with 3-1 records. LSU is 15-3 overall and State is 13-6 overall.
The win for the Tigers now gives LSU the fourth longest winning streak in the 38-year history of the Maravich Center.
LSU broke open a tight game in the second half after leading 36-30 at the half. Up 13, 55-42 with 14:29 to play, LSU went on a 14-2 run to open up a 69-44 advantage. Starting that run was the final nine points of an 11-point scoring run by Marcus Thornton for the Tigers.
Thornton for the third time this year scored over 30 points, hitting for 31 points on 10-of-18 shooting, including 5-of-8 three pointers. Tasmin Mitchell hit 9-of-13 field goals en route to 24 points. Garrett Temple had six assists and three steals as LSU shot 48.3 percent from the floor (29-60) and 8-of-18 from three-point range.
Mississippi State was led by Jarvis Varnado who had 18 points but no blocked shot. Varnado had 14 blocked shots in two games against LSU a year ago. Ravern Johnson had 10 for the Bulldogs.
LSU outrebounded Mississippi State, 44-24.
“We played well,” said LSU Coach Trent Johnson. “Mississippi State really concerned and worried me coming in because they stretch you so well in the perimeter. I thought we defended really well. It was a good win. We need to get our rest and get ready for school (Thursday) and the game on Saturday.”
That game Saturday is against nationally-ranked Xavier at 7 p.m. at the Maravich Center. Tickets are still available for the game online at LSUsports.net.
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON QUOTES
Opening statement …
“We played well. Mississippi State really concerned and worried me coming in because they stretch you so well on the perimeter. They have some kids that are capable of shooting a deep three coming off the dribble on the right or the left. I thought we defended really well. We looked like we were running and we weren’t even running. It looked like we were trying to move in mud offensively in the first half and were really sluggish. Then, we picked it up the second half and really executed. I thought Marcus (Thornton) stayed within the framework of what we were doing and we ran a lot of sets for him and countered with him to come out and hit some deep threes. Bo (Spencer) did really well. For me, I’m starting to enjoy having a conversation with him during the game because he understands what is going on. Defensively, he set the tone. There was a period in the second half where (Mississippi State) was making a run at us and he really got out in the perimeter. Everyone else followed suit. It was good win. We need to get our rest and get ready for school tomorrow and the game on Saturday.”
On LSU winning …
“It means when we are right, and defending with a since of urgency, rebounding and taking care of the ball, we have a chance to compete with a lot of people. I just know that this group, when they are right, they are capable, very capable.”
On the crowd at the games …
“I think the crowd plays a huge part for the kids, in general. These guys really enjoy the student section and support. I heard some talk about how they hadn’t had that in previous years and I told them it was our responsibility to play the game the right way so there is a viable product on the floor and people enjoyed coming out to watch you play.”
On winning the last three games by a substantial margin …
“I’m just worried about winning the next possession. Really, it is that simple to me. We just can’t get caught up in a thought that we won by 20 so we have arrived. We haven’t arrived at anything. Last time I checked, we have a few games to play still so we have to continue to get better. It’s not about how much win by, it’s about how well you compete, execute and play within the framework of what you are doing.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Opening statement…
“Tonight was a big win. Every win is, but tonight was a special win. We had to come back with the same intensity that we had on the road against Ole Miss. That’s what we did. We stayed intense on defense and offense. We have to give respect to Mississippi State. They fought hard, but we came out with the victory.”
On Marcus Thornton‘s offensive stretch in second half…
“Anything’s possible with Marcus. He’s going to miss a couple, but he’s still going to make more. We’re still going to give him the ball. He’s a wonderful shooter. I wasn’t surprised by his stretch. I just kept going to him.”
Opening statement…
“We came out intense. We were upset with how we played in the last five minutes of the first half. The last three games we’ve been playing well in the first half and not playing as well as we want to in the second half, so Coach came in at half time and told us to stay in the game because they were going to come back. We came back in the second half and really put the hammer down. We’re happy about that.”
On struggling against Mississippi State in the past…
“Coach brought up earlier this week that Mississippi State beat us twice last season when we were playing, ironically, for first place in the west. Though It’s early in the conference season, but it’s still first place in the west. We came out and wanted to win the game to get first place at home. We have to get those home wins because it’s so hard to play on the road. We might have added a little extra to it, but we’re just happy to get the win.”
Opening statement…
“Going into the game, Mississippi State was in first place in the west. We won this game, and now we’ll be tied for first place. Coach (Johnson) had us really focus in the last two days of practice. We just came out and really got the job done.”
On 17-point stretch in first four minutes of second half…
“I play off of my teammates. Without them, I wouldn’t have the ball in my hand. As a player, you get one or two shots, and you get in the groove. Shots start falling. They kept feeding me the ball, so I kept shooting.”
Opening statement…
“We came out and gave 110 percent. We played hard in those last two days of practices. Coach got on us and told us we had to defend our home court. Those guys were number one. We had to come out and focus, and that’s what we did.”
On crowd enthusiasm…
“Playing in front of a large with all the noise, and seeing the fans happy and hearing them cheer you on makes everyone want to play more. When you get a defensive stop and you keep sticking it to them, it’s just a big momentum boost to have the crowd out there.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE HEAD COACH RICK STANSBURY
On LSU expanding their lead in the second half…
“(Their lead) went from three to 12 just like that. It wasn’t over a minute-and-a-half, I can promise you. At that point, (LSU G Marcus) Thornton took over. We had our best defender on him, Barry Stuart, and I think he scored 17 points in the first six-and-a-half or seven minutes in the first half. He’s had those kinds of games before. You hope you don’t have to be a part of one of them because there’s really nothing you can do. He got the game separated. At that point, we didn’t play with the poise you have to play with and the game just got away from us there.”
On his team’s rebounding…
“We got killed in the backboards. It was just how good they’re playing and they’re big and athletic and every position on the court. Their toughness and experience showed out there tonight. They’re very god. They’ve been very good for the last three games. I thought they were very good against South Carolina, they were very good against Ole Miss and they were very good tonight.”
On why they couldn’t run their offense properly…
“I think LSU got into us. Our point guard didn’t score until he made two free throws in the last minute of the game. The point guard has to get the ball into the paint and they prevented that from happening. They got into us. I think we handled it about as well as we could.”
On if LSU’s defense got into PG Dee Bost’s head…
“I’m sure we lost our poise there. I’m sure that when you’re on the road and getting hit in the mouth he wasn’t himself. For us to be successful he’s got to get in there and be a factor and he wasn’t much of a factor tonight. Again, (LSU PG Bo) Spencer did a good job on him tonight. They were bigger, tougher and stronger than us in every area.”
On what happened when his team lost their poise…
“There were some bad shots in that stretch that led to some transition baskets for LSU. We cut the lead to three and it went from three to 14 in two minutes. That was the game right there. Thornton really took over at that point.”
On if a loss like this can wake up a team…
“We know we’re very fragile. We know we’ve got to make shots. You look at our team out on that floor and you see how physical we are and how fragile it is. They got exposed really bad out there tonight in both areas. We’re going to keep trying to do what we’re doing. We’ve been pretty good doing it at this point. Tonight, LSU was the best team and pressed their will on us tonight. All you can do is take tonight for tonight. They only count as one win and one loss. All you can do is learn from that physicality they played with and the poise and quick shots that got us there.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE PLAYER QUOTES
G Barry Stewart
On guarding Marcus Thornton …
“He had some tough shots. I put a hand in his face, but give the credit to his teammates, they set some good screens off the ball and they got him open. He’s a good shooter.”
On why he thought Dee Bost wasn’t able to contribute offensively …
“It wasn’t just Dee (Bost). I thought as a team we rushed and got into it a little quick, but they (LSU) didn’t let us get into our sets tonight.”
On what the team can take from this game …
“I think this game is going to test our team and how quickly we can recover. We have to forget about this one and get prepared for Georgia Saturday and we have to just come out and attack.”
C Jarvis Varnado
On what he thought of LSU’s offense …
“They hit some good, tough shots. Barry (Stewart) had a hand in (Marcus Thornton‘s) face, but he was just on tonight. Tasmin Mitchell played a great game.”
On being out-rebounded by 20 …
“They just out-toughed us; they got all the loose balls; they just out-toughed us.”
On the mood in the locker room at halftime …
“We felt like we were playing bad at halftime even though we were only down six points. I felt like going into the second half that we could’ve won this game.”