BATON ROUGE – Bo Spencer reeled off 15 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to spark the LSU men’s basketball valiant rally, but the Tigers furious comeback effort fell short 59-54 against No. 14 Tennessee Thursday at the Maravich Center.
The Tigers (9-13, 0-8 SEC) trailed 51-37 with 8:09 remaining as Spencer ignited the LSU rally by canning a three-pointer, a mid-range jumper and a quartet of free throws. Freshman Darren Populist tacked on a three-ball and Tasmin Mitchell added a lay-up to pull the Tigers back to 53-49 at the 2:29 mark.
Tennessee’s Wayne Chism responded with a lay-up 14 seconds later, but Spencer fired back with another jumper on the Tigers next possession.
With the score 55-51 and 17 seconds on the clock, Mitchell was fouled on a three-point attempt. He calmly stepped to the line and buried all three free throws to make it 55-54.
The Volunteers (17-4, 5-2 SEC) used a pair of free throws from Bobby Maze and Scotty Hopson sandwiched in between a game-tying, three-point miss by Mitchell that bounced off the back iron to escape with the 59-54 win.
Mitchell finished with 13 points and secured a game-high 17 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season. The 13 points allowed the Denham Springs native to eclipse Chris Jackson (1988-90) for seventh place on the LSU’s scoring list.
Aaron Dotson and Storm Warren chipped in six and five points, respectively, for LSU.
Tennessee was paced by Chism, who connected for 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. The Tigers limited Hopson and J.P. Prince to eight points apiece.
LSU stormed out to an early 5-0 lead aided by a pair of Spencer baskets before the Volunteers fired back with 19 of the next 22 points over the next 10 minutes.
The Tigers got back to 22-16 on a Spencer three-ball with 1:45 left before Tennessee responded with Chism and Prince lay-ups to take a 26-16 advantage into the locker room.
LSU returns to action Saturday against No. 3 Kentucky. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. on the SEC Network. The afternoon will feature the retirement of the jersey of LSU All-American Rudy Macklin, who led the Tigers to the NCAA Final Four in 1981. Fans also can listen to the game on the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge) and online at LSUsports.net in the Geaux Zone.
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON
Opening statement…
“I think we were down 14 or 15 at a time. We just kept fighting and fighting. We just couldn’t get over the hump and give ourselves a margin of error so to speak. With about six or seven minutes left in the game, I thought Tennessee did a very good job in late-game situations of running their stuff. They had us back-picked, back door with (Wayne) Chism on Tasmin (Mitchell), and I thought they executed. I thought (Bobby) Maze did a really good job understanding tempo and score when we made a run. They ran their stuff late into the clock and forced us to defend and took advantage of our inexperience, whether it was a freshman or a walk-on. But still, we fought back, and we were in a good situation. I wanted to save a timeout with about 59 seconds or 54 seconds to go. I told (Daron) Populist and Bo (Spencer) that we wanted to foul J.P. (Prince). If you couldn’t get to him, you needed to get to the nearest guy. You can’t fault Daron Populist. He hasn’t been in that situation. I didn’t think he could hear me although I was screaming and trying to get to him, so there was a lot of time that ran off the clock.
“We still got it to where we were in a situation where Tasmin could get to the free-throw line and take three shots. He made them. Then, we foul them. Then, we have a play that we work on for late-game situations. It’s called ‘free-throw line, run it.’ You want to drop it on the side to our perimeter player, and at that time it was Bo. We knew they were going to double team Bo, and Bo was supposed to turn back to Tasmin, which he did. Tasmin was a little too deep, so I can’t fault the execution, but coming out of a timeout, I wanted to take a quick three because their length, athleticism and experience if you get into a late-clock situation like that and forcing a lot of the game, we have a hard time scoring, even when they sagged off guys. Without looking at the tape, I got to believe we missed our share of open shots, so we spent a lot of time shooting the ball this week. We’ve just got to continue to shoot it. The tempo was to our liking.”
On going toe-to-toe with No. 14 Tennessee…
“Yes, I’m pleased with the effort, but 0-8 is 0-8, and 9-13 is 9-13. We just have to find a way to get over the hump.”
On cutting the deficit in the second half…
“They are so long, and they switch everything. We made a decision at halftime to run three out, two in, flatten the floor, put Tasmin at the post and run ‘Tiger’ and put Tasmin at the post along with another post guy like Garrett (Green). Bo was doing a very good job at getting into the lane. At times, he got into the lane and made some good decisions. At times, he didn’t, but he was locked in.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On what the design was for the last play …
“The shot was designed for me to take, and we worked hard down there. It was a battle. I was hoping it went in. I didn’t want to miss it.”
On how he feels the team played …
“Even though we didn’t play that well, I’m pleased with our team’s effort coming out and battling after what we’ve been through the past six or seven games. It is kind of difficult. It doesn’t feel good to lose, but we came out with a lot of heart.”
On how he feels Daron Populist played …
“I’m always excited to see someone come off the bench with a lot of confidence. It shows the value of his character being a walk-on, coming in with confidence, and knocking the shot down. I told him when he was open, he had to shoot it.”
On the game plan in the final seconds …
“Bobby Maze wound up going to the line, and he is a pretty good free throw shooter. If he missed it, we were supposed to go for two, and if he made it, we were supposed to go for three.”
On how he feels the team played …
“We came out and played hard. The team gave excellent effort. Everyone went hard. We have to have more production from our bench. Guys that come in have to have confidence and be ready to play.”
On how Daron Populist played …
“I like how he came in with confidence. He goes head-to-head with me in practice, and we always give each other a good workout.”
On making a three in tonight’s game …
“At first I wasn’t feeling good, but I came out at halftime and made a couple. Then, I got the three.”
TENNESSEE POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Bruce Pearl
On the team’s execution tonight…
“I thought we did a good job on Tasmin (Mitchell). He was the focal point of our scouting. We wanted to limit his touches. Obviously, Bo Spencer played great, and that’s a concern as we head into (playing South Carolina guard) Devin Downey.”
On allowing LSU to come back into the game…
“I thought offensively we had some real empty possessions.”
Forward Wayne Chism
On closing out the game…
“We had the lead the majority of the game, and when it came down to it at the end the best players made big shots. It was a big grind-it-out type of game and I’m glad Bobby (Maze) and Scotty (Hopson) made their free throws.”
On the play of Bo Spencer…
“He did a great job. Spencer made a lot of tough threes and they got back into the game.”