Rough second half costs Ole Miss men’s basketball at LSU

Photo credit: Ole Miss Men’s Basketball

Ole Miss men’s basketball fell 89-80 to LSU on Wednesday night in Baton Rouge, dropping to 0-2 in road SEC games.

The Rebels got off to a fast start powered by Jaylen Murray, who scored their first nine points.

Ole Miss led for almost all of the first half — LSU didn’t take a lead until the 5:15 mark. But the Tigers finished the half on an 18-9 run to lead 35-33 at the break.

And LSU carried that momentum over to the second half. The Tigers outscored the Rebels 27-15 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half to swell the lead up to 14.

The difference was shooting. Ole Miss shot 36.9% from the floor compared to LSU’s 48.3%

The discrepancy was even bigger beyond the arc. Ole Miss — who came into Wednesday’s game ranked 6th in 3-point percentage — went just 6-24 (25%). Meanwhile, LSU shot well above its 189th ranking to go 10-21 (47.6%) from range against Ole Miss.

The Rebels went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to six points with under six minutes to go. But the Tigers pulled away again. Then a 10-0 run near the end of the game brought the Rebels within five points, but LSU’s Mike Williams answered with a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to eight points with 1:04 to go.

The loss dropped Ole Miss to 15-2 and 2-2 in conference play.