The Bulldogs of Mississippi State downed LSU 64-53 at home, giving the Tigers their 11th straight loss. Mississippi State basketball was led by forward D.J. Jeffries’ 18 points as he was 5 for 6 from three point range. Jeffries also provided the Bulldogs with 7 rebounds.
The game was pretty tight in the beginning and looked to be a low scoring affair as State led LSU 25-22 at halftime. After halftime, Mississippi State, powered by the home crowd in Starkville, was able to provide some separation. After a Shakeel Moore layup with 16:32 left in the 2nd half put Mississippi State up 32-23, the game never got much closer for the Tigers.
Mississippi State Basketball defeats LSU, 64-53
LSU was led by forward KJ Williams, who had a team high 11 points, which is below his 3rd in conference 16.7 points per game. Williams also contributed a team high 5 rebounds which was not enough for a team that did not shoot the ball well. The Tigers shot 42.6% from the field going 20 for 47 from the floor and only 33.3% from behind the arc. The Tigers also failed to get to line only shooting 9 free throws for the game.
Mississippi State fared better from the field shooting 52.0% on 26-50 shooting and out rebounded LSU 30-24. The Bulldogs also were the beneficiary of 15 Tiger turnovers on the evening. Mississippi State also got strong contributions from Shakeel Moore and Tolu Smith who provided 13 and 10 points respectively in the winning effort.
LSU has not won a game in 2023, and their last victory came against Arkansas on December 28th. They have lost 11 straight and 10 straight in the SEC. That is after starting the season 12-1. The Tigers will get another chance to right the ship against Texas A&M on Saturday February 11th, at home. The game will be at 8:30pm on the SEC Network.
The Bulldogs are on a roll winning four straight games and still have aspirations for the NCAA tournament. They are now 16-8 and 4-7 in the SEC. Mississippi State has an opportunity to make a statement Saturday on the road against Arkansas who also would like to improve their tournament resume. The two teams will face off at 6:00pm and the game can be seen on ESPNU.