BATON ROUGE – Marquel Sutton and Max Mackinnon combined for 46 points as the LSU Tigers led for all but 28 seconds to score a 78-70 Southeastern Conference win over Missouri Saturday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers scored the first 10 points of the game and never let the Tigers get closer than three in the second half, making the free throws and the plays to give LSU its first league win of 2026. The Tigers are now 13-5 and 1-4 in the league, while Missouri, which entered the weekend in a five-way tie for first, fell to 13-5 and 3-2 in league play.
Sutton had his best conference game to date with a strong 26 points on 7-of-14 shooting with two treys and 10-of-14 at the free throw line. Mackinnon, the leading scorer for the Tigers in SEC play had 20 points on 7-of-19 shooting that included four three-pointers and 2-of-2 at the line.
But while starters Pablo Tamba, Michael Nwoko and Rashad King did not score in double figures, it was their all-around play that strongly contributed to the win as the three were a combined +40 in +/- totals for the contest. The plus-minus is determined by the points LSU scored subtracted by the points the opposition scores when they are on the floor.
Tamba had eight points and five boards, including two big free throws in the final 30 seconds, Nwoko had six points but a game high eight rebounds (five offensive) and Rashad King, in his second Tiger start, had seven points and four assists.
LSU had its first single digit turnover game of SEC play with just second miscues, while Missouri turned the ball over 12 times, resulting in an 11-7 advantage in points off turnovers for LSU. LSU had a 35-30 advantage on the boards, including 16-9 on offensive rebounds and that led to a 21-13 advantage in second chance points for the Tigers.
Missouri was led by Jayden Stone with 20 points, while Mark Mitchell added 13, T.O. Barrett 11 and Shawn Phillips 10.
LSU won the opening jump ball and after missing an opening three-pointer, LSU got the offensive rebounds and Mackinnon hit a three-pointer to give LSU the lead for good at 3-0 28 seconds in.
LSU’s second bucket was also a second chance goal as Nwoko scored in the paint to make it 5-0. The lead went to 8-0 two Tiger possessions later on a three-pointer by Mackinnon and it reached 10-0 on a Robert Miller III tip-in dunk with 15:15 to go in the first half.
LSU led at the half, 37-27.
LSU had two leads of 14 points in the second half, the last on an old-fashion hoop and free throw by Tamba to make it 45-31 with 16:44 to play. Missouri, which shot 54 percent in the second half (12-of-22), began to make some buckets and cut the margin to three at 50-47, 53-50 and 55-52.
But each time on LSU’s next possession, the Tigers responded, twice to get the lead back to six and once to get the lead back to five points.
LSU would stretch the lead back to 10 on another Mackinnon three-pointer at 65-55 with 6:26 to play, a King bucket with 5:49 left and a Sutton layup at 69-59 with 4:56 to go in the contest.
Missouri would eventually cut the game to four points at 74-70 with 56 seconds remaining. King would miss a shot, but Tamba got the rebound was fouled and made both free throws to expand the LSU lead to 76-70 with 26 seconds left.
Mizzou was unable to get a shot off as Tamba deflected a pass that Sutton recovered and he was fouled with 16 seconds left and made two free throws for the final margin.
LSU for the game would shoot 42.4 percent (25-of-59) with 10-of-26 from the arc (38.t percent). LSU had its free throw game back in gear, making 18-of-23 for 78.3 percent. Missouri finished at 43.5 percent (20-of-46), with six made threes and 24-of-30 from the free throw line (80 percent).
LSU now heads on the road for two games, first Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT in Gainesville, Florida against the Florida Gators. The Tigers will also travel to Arkansas next Saturday before returning home to take on Mississippi State on Wednesday, Jan. 28.