LSU 81 vs Ole Miss 55 - FINAL

LSU Hoops (10-4) vs Ole Miss (10-4) | PMAC | Sat 12:30PM |TV:SECN

After a loss to UVA earlier this week LSU starts SEC play with a big game against Ole Miss. At this point every game is big, but this is one that LSU should win, thus getting the W is necessary to keep NCAA Tourney hopes alive. LSU showed promise earlier this week in their loss including a great game by Hamilton and getting Stringer back on the court for 24 minutes in the loss. Another good game by backup PG Bass also helps increase confidence going into SEC play.

Ole Miss has lost 3 of their last 4 games and have played in a ton of close games. They are 5-1 in games decided by less than 4 points this year, including an overtime win. Unfortunately for Ole Miss, most should have been won way before the final buzzer including Southern Methodist earlier this week. Other close games were against Penn St, DePaul, Miami (FL), and Drake. Their 3 latest losses were to Middle Tenn, So Miss, and Dayton. Earlier in the year they were embarrassed by Marquette by 30!

Starters:

PG 32 Jarvis Summers (6’4” 182 Fr) 10.2PPG, 3APG, 39%fg, 39%3pt

G 20 Nick Williams (6’4” 210 Jr) 8.4PPG, 3.7RPG, 41%fg, 28%3pt, 80%ft

G 5 Dundrecous Nelson (5’11” 195 So) 11.6PPG, 1.4APG, 37%fg, 30%3pt

F 1 Terrance Henry (6’10” 210 Sr) 11.6PPG, 4RPG, 43%fg, 28%3pt

F 31 Murphy Holloway (6’7” 240 Jr) 9.9PPG, 9.6RPG, 54%fg, 47%ft


Team Stats:

66PPG, 11APG, 6Blocks/game 42%fg, 60%ft, 28%3pt, 39Reb/game

Similarly to LSU, they have made a living playing defense. They have the 28th rank defense efficiency (LSU is 26th). They get a ton of blocks, especially when Buckner comes in off the bench. I believe their defense stats are inflated due to playing some poor shooting teams. They gave up 96 to Marquette, including 53 in the first half! Overall I see their offense a little bit more along than LSU’s but our defense much more stout. I think LSU needs to continue to improve and figure out who will be able to score from outside. LSU shot only 27% from behind the arc against UVA and needs to improve from deep to open up the middle.

I see LSU coming out and winning this one, especially if Stringer can come back and start to score for us. I don’t see Holloway being able to fully contain Hamilton but he will need help from someone else. I think Storm can come off the bench and grab at about 10 points. Hope to see a decent crowd at the PMAC to root the team on!

Prediction LSU 65 Ole Miss 55