Tigers post emotional Senior Day victory, 33-30

By Stephen Evans

To borrow a line from Yogi Berra, it was like déjà vu all over again for the LSU football team.

After surrendering a late touchdown to give the Arkansas Razorbacks a 30-27 lead with 1:18 left in the game, the LSU offense faced a do-or-die situation for the second consecutive week.

This time, however, the Tigers were able to put together a game-tying drive and send the contest into overtime, where the Tigers held on to defeat the Razorbacks 33-30 and bid farewell to 24 Tiger seniors in style with a triumph in Tiger Stadium

The victory gave LSU a 9-3 overall regular-season record and improved the Tigers’ SEC mark to 5-3. LSU also set itself up for a possible bowl trip to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando after Ole Miss’ loss earlier in the day to Mississippi State.

LSU will likely play in either the Capital One Bowl or Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Tex. The Tigers will know their bowl destination on December 6 following the announcement of the BCS match-ups.

While the Tigers were able to pick up a Senior Day victory for the first time in three years, it didn’t come without any angst. Donning new all-white uniforms with dark gold helmets, LSU led for much of the contest but fell behind late in the fourth quarter when the Razorbacks were able to take advantage of their ground game.

Arkansas continued to chip away at the LSU lead, which ballooned to 24-13 on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Jefferson to tight end Deangelo Peterson with 7:15 left in the third quarter.

But the Arkansas running game, which was non-existent in the first half, gashed through the LSU defense at times in the second half and made the Arkansas offense difficult for the Tigers to contain.

Arkansas, which scored its first touchdown of the second half on a three-play drive that featured three rushes, pulled to within 24-20 on an eight-yard run by Broderick Green. Arkansas then tacked on three more points on a 40-yard Alex Tejada field goal with 9:52 left in the game to pull the Razorbacks to within 24-23. The 11-play, 62-yard drive featured seven rushing attempts by the Hogs.

A 47-yard Josh Jasper field goal gave the Tigers a 27-23 cushion with 4:05 left in the game, but Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett engineered a late touchdown drive to give the Razorbacks the lead for the first time in the game. The drive culminated with a 14-yard touchdown strike to Joe Adams on fourth down and put the Razorbacks ahead 30-27 with just 1:18 left in the game.

Facing a similar situation as the previous weekend at Ole Miss, it was up to the LSU offense to put together a drive and get the Tigers in position to score to either win the game or tie the contest and send it into overtime.

And that’s just what the Tigers did.

The drive started off ominously, with Jordan Jefferson taking a sack at the LSU 31-yard line. However, he then hit Rueben Randle on a 10-yard pass and found senior Richard Dickson on a short pass. Dickson pulled a pile of would-be tacklers to the Arkansas 48-yartd line for an LSU first down, which stopped the clock momentarily.

A screen pass to Stevan Ridley then picked up eight yards before an incomplete pass stopped the clock with 23 seconds left to play. Ridley carried for nine yards on the next play and then followed with an eight-yard reception to move the Tigers to within field goal range as LSU called a timeout with nine seconds showing on the clock.

LSU head coach Les Miles, who last weekend was also forced to call a play with nine seconds left, called for the field goal unit. Jasper was perfect from 41 yards out, sending the game into overtime.

In the extra session, LSU could do little to move the ball and failed to pick up a first down. Instead, the Tigers relied on a 36-yard Jasper field goal to put them back on top, 33-30.

Arkansas also failed to pick up a first down on its overtime possession. On fourth down from the LSU 19-yard line, Tejada lined up for an identical 36-yard attempt, but missed wide right, setting off a huge celebration and sigh of relief on the Tiger Stadium turf.

“I’m proud of this team,” Miles said after the game. “They fought like hell in an area where there is a swirling backdrop and agendas. It didn’t bother them. They got the distraction behind them and played as a team. I’m proud of this team. I’m proud of this coaching staff.

“You have to give it to Josh Jasper for a guy who comes onto the field and gets us into overtime and gets us the win in overtime. You count on a guy like that to play big at big times, and he does. We’re looking forward to the opportunity for the 10th victory and a bowl game of our team’s liking.”

Early on it didn’t seem as though the game would come down to the wire. LSU raced out to a 17-3 lead after the Razorbacks got on the board first with a Tejada 47-yard field goal with 8:17 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers scored their first touchdown of the game on the ensuing series when Jefferson connected with Brandon LaFell on a 16-yard strike. The drive went 60 yards on six plays and featured a number of new looks, including an unbalanced line with just Ciron Black to the left of center T-Bob Hebert and three linemen and a tight end to the center’s right. It also included a pass to Russell Shepherd and some exciting runs by Trindon Holliday.

LSU tacked on a 47-yard Jasper field goal to make it 10-3 with just eight seconds left in the first quarter. LSU forced an Arkansas punt on the ensuing possession, a punt which Holliday secured on his 13-yard line and raced 87 yards for a touchdown. It was his second career punt return for a touchdown and the second for LSU this season.

Arkansas would add a 35-yard field goal from Tejada just 35 seconds before halftime to send the teams into the locker room with LSU maintaining a 17-6 advantage.

Arkansas outgained the Tigers 375-326 in total offense in the game. LSU had 179 yards through the air and 147 yards on the ground.

Jefferson completed 17-of-25 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns to go along with an interception. Dickson was LSU’s receiving leader with six catches for 44 yards on a night when he set the LSU career record for receptions by a tight end. Dickson’s 89 career catches surpasses the 87 catches of Mitch Andrews, who played at LSU from 1982-85.

Holiday was LSU’s leading rusher with nine carries for 57 yards. He also added 109 punt return yards and 46 kickoff return yards for a career-high 212 all-purpose yards.

Ridley finished with a game-high 14 carries for 48 yards to go along with four receptions for 30 yards.

LSU’s defensive leaders were Harry Coleman and Karnell Hatcher, each of whom had nine tackles. Seniors Jacon Cutrerra and Perry Riley each added eight tackles, while Coleman and Drake Nevis had sacks. Lavar Edwards and Rahim Alem also shared a sack.

For Arkansas, Mallett completed 17-of-39 throws for 227 yards and a touchdown. He was also intercepted once by Chad Jones. Greg Childs led the Razorbacks with five catches for 124 yards, while Dennis Johnson had nine carries for 78 yards.

Cold-shooting Tigers fall to Arizona St.

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Derek Glasser scored a career-high 24 points, Eric Boateng added 17 and Arizona State used its suffocating zone defense to beat LSU 71-52 on Friday in the consolation game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

The Sun Devils (4-1) trailed 34-27 at halftime before locking down, forcing the Tigers (3-2) to miss 15 of their first 17 shots out of the break. Tasmin Mitchell and Storm Warren were the only players to score from the field for LSU in the second half until a 3-pointer by Chris Beattle in the closing seconds.

After shooting 60 percent over the first 20 minutes, the Tigers were held to 5 of 25 from the field in the second half. They also turned the ball over 13 times against a 2-3 zone defense that’s basically designed to allow offenses to pass it freely around the perimeter.

Then again, the Sun Devils have allowed fewer than 62 points per game each of the past three seasons under coach Herb Sendek. Last season’s team allowed 60.5, the best mark by Arizona State since 1949-50 season.

Mitchell finished with 17 points and Warren had 13 for the Tigers, who got only the three points from Beattle off the bench. Former walk-on Zach Kinsley added 14 points.

LSU played without leading scorer Bo Spencer, who sprained his right ankle in LSU’s 81-55 semifinal loss to No. 13 Connecticut. Spencer spent the game sitting on the bench in warmups.

Things got so frustrating for LSU coach Trent Johnson that he spent most of the second half sitting on the scorer’s table with his arms folded across his chest. Maybe because his team wasn’t listening to him, Johnson instead decided to start yelling at the officials, drawing a technical foul with just over 3 minutes left.

The outcome was even more surprising considering the Tigers threatened to put away Arizona State early, taking a 29-20 lead on a 3-pointer and three free throws by Kinsley in a span of three possessions. But with sharpshooter Rihards Kuksiks and Ty Abbott on the bench in foul trouble, the Sun Devils put together a 7-0 spurt to whittle the lead to two.

Mitchell answered with his fifth field goal of the first half, and Kinsley made his third 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Tigers a 34-27 lead at the break.

The Sun Devils lost Abbott for the rest of the game with about 15 minutes left when he appeared to get poked in the eye jumping for a loose ball. He let out a scream and immediately fell to the floor, where he lay face down while play continued. Abbott eventually was helped to the locker room, still holding his hand over his left eye.

The injury coincided with Arizona State’s big second-half surge. Fueled almost entirely by defense, the 9-0 run gave the Sun Devils a 40-38 lead–their first since the opening minutes of the game–and sent them on their way.

UConn too much for Tigers in NIT

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Jerome Dyson didn’t think No. 13 Connecticut had anything to prove after three lackluster wins. Kemba Walker believed precisely the opposite.

They were in synch with just about everything else on Wednesday night.

Dyson and Walker scored 20 points apiece and combined for 10 assists, playing flawlessly alongside one another during an 81-55 rout of LSU in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

“We didn’t have to come out here and show anything, we just had to play our game,” said Dyson, who did most of his damage during the second half.

Walker made those final 20 minutes moot after helping UConn race to a 45-29 lead at the break.

“How we got that win and how we did it, we know we can be a good team now,” he said.

Gavin Edwards added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Huskies, who advanced to play No. 7 Duke for the championship on Friday at Madison Square Garden. Stanley Robinson finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for UConn.

“Getting beat by a team like that really exposes you,” LSU coach Trent Johnson said. “That’s the good thing about being in New York. When you get exposed, everyone sees it.”

Connecticut held Tasmin Mitchell to nine points and Bo Spencer to five on 2 of 14 shooting. The Tigers’ leading scorer, Spencer briefly left the game with about 15 minutes remaining after hurting his right ankle while losing control going up for a layup.

Of course, the Huskies grabbed the loose ball and ran the other way for their own easy layup.

That made it 59-36 and, despite the zealous cheers from a small group of purple-clad LSU fans sitting about 20 rows up, the Huskies were on cruise control. Dyson hit his second 3-pointer of the half, then added an open jumper and fast-break layup seconds later as the lead swelled to 67-38.

Dyson had struggled to find his shot after missing the final 12 games last season with a torn meniscus in his right knee, but everything he put up in this one had perfect rotation and a velvety touch. The 6-foot-4 senior finished 7 of 16 from the field.

“It was the first time I saw ‘Connecticut’ play this year,” coach Jim Calhoun said. “We were aggressive.”

Storm Warren scored 15 to lead the Tigers, who were making their first trip to the Garden for an NIT game since the consolation finals of the 1970 postseason tournament. Garrett Green played for LSU (3-1) but had only three points after spraining his left ankle working out on an off day last week.

The Tigers might have had more luck had they gotten more shots to the rim.

The Huskies forced a dozen turnovers and blocked 13 attempts, continuing a tradition of leading the nation in that category each of the last eight years. Many thought the streak would end this season after they lost 7-foot-3 shot-swatter Hasheem Thabeet to the NBA.

“You have to come out and be ready to play from the jump,” Warren said. “It was a challenge, but you have to step up to the challenge and be ready to play.”

The Huskies have had their problems in the preseason NIT, losing semifinal games in 1997 and 2003, but used superior size and athleticism to blitz LSU from the start.

UConn led 13-10 when Walker began a quick 8-0 run with a contested layup, and the Big East powerhouse methodically stretched the lead. A bucket by Donnell Beverly with 5:09 left made it 31-20, and Walker — a standout at Rice High School in New York City — hit a 3-pointer and pair of foul shots in the last minute of the half to make it 45-29.

The generous cushion made walking off the court a lot more pleasant than the last time UConn did it at the Garden, on the short end of a six-overtime thriller against Syracuse in March during the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament. UConn shrugged off that disappointment to make an inspired run to the Final Four a few weeks later.

“We answered some questions tonight,” Calhoun said. “I liked the team tonight.”

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November 22, 2009

Tigers didn’t lose to Ole Miss on Saturday, they lost at practice during the week

The final score on Saturday from Oxford, Miss., will be recorded as a 25-23 victory by the Ole Miss Rebels over the LSU Tigers.  That is the result today, tomorrow, next week, next month, etc. However, LSU lost this game in the week of preparation leading up to the game. 

I have checked the LSU media guide and it lists Les Miles as the “head coach” of the LSU team. The LSU sports website (lsusports.net) also has Les Miles listed as head coach.  I will assume that everyone in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, everyone watching on CBS television, and everyone listening on either the Rebel or Tiger radio network would also list Les Miles as the head coach of the LSU Tigers.
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The clock read 1:16 to go in the fourth quarter when the title of “head coach” was no longer occupied on the LSU sideline. I do not have to retype what transpired from that time until the clock read 0:00 – I am sure you have read, heard, seen, and discussed the events relentlessly. What was said after the game by those involved leaves us even more confused.

“There was a lot of confusion on the sideline, and we didn’t know what to do,” LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson stated after the game. “When Terrance caught it, I thought the field-goal unit was going to come out and kick the field goal and we were going to win the game. They had a lot of communication going on. Time was running out. I mean it was just a lot of confusion.”

“The only thing I can tell you what we needed to have happen is run an offensive play or kick a field goal, one of the two,” Miles said, as his thoughts seemingly wandered. “Apparently … obviously … (Jefferson) felt like… I do not know who told him to clock it. I’m listening on the headphones. ‘You cannot clock that ball.’ I don’t know that that call was ever made.”
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Jefferson said he was signaled to “clock” the ball. Video from WBRZ’s Michael Cauble (on the sideline at the game) shows that Miles was making that signal!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Les Miles was interviewed by CBS’s Tracy Wolfson immediately after the game. If you saw it, you know that he had no idea what happened. If you haven’t seen it, you will.  

Given his comments and then seeing the video evidence, it appears that Miles was not upfront and honest with reporters after the game. We will see what he does at his weekly press luncheon Monday on the LSU campus.

The LSU players and fans deserved better from the “head coach.” Proper preparation during the week leading to the game (and every game for that matter) is the responsibility of the head coach and his staff. The buck (almost 4 million of them) stops on the desk of the head coach. This team was not prepared for the final 1:16 of the game in Oxford against Ole Miss. There was no plan, there was no “head coach” to step up, lead, make decisions, and put the team and players in position for “victory” (borrowing terminology from Les Miles). 

Who knows, the field goal attempt may not have been successful. But now we will never know because a plan of action that should have been developed during the week leading up to the game was absent.

Les Miles was also quoted as follows, “The management at the back end of the game was the issue. It’s my fault that we didn’t finish first in that game.”

Credit Les Miles for admitting the obvious.  The question is and will remain – why?   I think the players and fans deserved better. I am sure all eyes will be on Les Miles and his “management” of this team going forward. Let’s hope that this week of preparation for Arkansas and all future weeks of preparation will result in a much better situation for all involved.

Last-second debacle raises larger questions

By Stephen Evans

It’s happened all year long, and it finally cost the LSU football team a game.

Throughout the 2009 season there have been glaring, alarming instances of poor clock management at the end of halves. It happened against Georgia. It happened against Florida. It even happened against Vanderbilt.

Previously, it just cost the Tigers potential points, but did not have a real impact on the game’s final outcome.

Saturday evening in Oxford, Miss., it cost LSU a chance to win the game. Instead of capping off a great come-from-behind victory against Ole Miss, the Tigers fell 25-23 amid chaos, confusion, and, bluntly, ineptness on the sidelines in the game’s waning seconds.

By the time you read this, you’ve undoubtedly seen the final moments of the game more times than you can stomach. It was immediately replayed time and again on ESPN and accounts of the mishap were posted on numerous national sports websites.

To add insult to injury, LSU head coach Les Miles also did a poor job of describing his rationale in the game’s final seconds when asked for an explanation by CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson, an embarrassing clip that has also been replayed hundreds of times by now for all of the country to see.

Miles’ postgame comments to the media also did not shed much light on the situation, nor did they give Tiger fans any relief to the heartburn they were experiencing after the clock hit zero.

Here’s what Miles had to say, in all of its glory, as released by the Ole Miss media relations department:

“We played a very inspired game, a very competitive game. I can only tell you that the management at the back end of the game was the issue. I think the blame, without question, is when my quarterback needs to throw it away and we’re calling a timeout to save as much clock time as we can but then we’re late to the field. Again, I take that to myself. Down to the one with one second, they had a difficult time getting the chains moved. We could have gotten lined up to kick a field goal with one second. That would certainly have been the end of the game that we would have foreseen. It’s interesting, I felt like the team played awfully hard. I felt like our defense played better in the second half than in the first. I think guys came back from mid-game issues. It’s my fault that we didn’t finish first in that game.

“We were throwing balls that should have been ruled incomplete. If he steps back there to throw, understanding the situation and it’s not there, let it go. He’s trying to keep the play alive and that puts us in the initial issue. We were close enough to kick the field goal at that point, even though long, close enough to kick. Then we throw a screen to pick up some yards down the boundary and get out of bounds and so that was ill-fated as well. That play, the clock ran down, timeouts were being called verbally and I didn’t relate to the official apparently and that was the mistake. We didn’t know that it hadn’t been called and then we come down to nine seconds and the opportunity to get a first down and we make it the play there after. It was a very long position to be in to go for the Hail Mary, then, we make a great catch. Those seconds that ticked off before would certainly have made a difference because if we clock that ball, we then have to opportunity to kick the field goal to win.”

We didn’t know that the timeout hadn’t been called? Really?

Usually when a coach calls a timeout specifically to stop the clock at the end of a game, he makes sure the referee sees him and blows the whistle. Moreover, he then glances toward the scoreboard to see how much time is remaining in the game so that he can devise a plan based on how much time is left.

So we are supposed to believe that the LSU coaching staff called a timeout with 26 or so seconds left in the game, the time that was left on the clock after Stevan Ridley was tackled on the wayward screen pass, and then didn’t realize that the clock hadn’t stopped until there was nine seconds left, at which time they called a timeout again?

If that’s the case, there should have been a hell of an argument by every LSU coach on the sideline as to why the clock wasn’t stopped at the “original” timeout. None of those protests occurred, so that scenario rings pretty hollow, especially given the numerous clock management issues that have occurred already this season.

But let’s move beyond the timeout issue. There were nine seconds left on the clock when they finally got it stopped. The ball was spotted at the Ole Miss 48-yard line. It was third down with no more timeouts remaining. Given those circumstances, there’s not a whole lot to consider. You can either try a Hail Mary pass, knowing the clock might well run out on a complete pass or even if the ball is batted around and takes a while to fall incomplete. Or you can throw a pass to try to pick up the 15-20 yards the team needs to get into Josh Jasper’s range.

Either way, the quarterback has to understand that if the ball is caught in the field of play, it must be beyond the first down marker so that the clock stops. Also, if three or more seconds are left, the quarterback must race his team to the line and spike it in order to allow the field goal team a chance to win the game. Finally, if there are one or two seconds left, the sideline must either race the field goal team onto the field or the quarterback must know that it’s on him to get the team to the line and run another play, this one into the endzone.

Those are the options. These situations are weekly, if not daily, and prepared for in detail during the course of implementing a game plan. Certainly these last-second scenarios should be second nature by the eleventh week of the season.

And, remember, there was a timeout called by LSU prior to that final ill-fated play, providing yet another opportunity to go through the scenarios.

Instead, despite all of the practice time, despite the conversations during the timeout, and despite the situation just being a basic late-game football scenario that should be second nature to players and coaches who have been in the game all of their lives, LSU never got its chance to win the game.

And that is unfortunate.

So where does the team go from here? Miles has made it a point since the Alabama loss to say that this team is much different than last year’s squad which suffered a late-season swoon. He may well be correct in that assessment. However, after a very promising start that had visions of an SEC championship and even a national championship just a few short weeks ago, this year’s ending is eerily familiar to that of last season – a loss to Alabama, a scare against an inferior non-BCS conference foe, and a loss to Ole Miss.

Who knows what will happen next week against Arkansas on Senior Day. The Tigers lost their championship goals, then readjusted their sights to being a 10-win team and finishing in the top five for the fourth time in five years. Now those goals are also unattainable.

What inspiration is left, other than sending the seniors out the right way? A win would likely propel LSU to the Cotton Bowl. But another loss could bounce the Tigers to the Liberty Bowl against the Conference USA champion.

Talk about hard to get up for. That would be embarrassing, for sure.

This loss is going to be hard to swallow for many. For Miles, his postgame remarks just don’t add up, and he now has more doubters than he has ever had since arriving at LSU. He must now do something to win them back.

For the LSU administration, the Ole Miss loss may have cost them 15,000 – 20,000 in Tiger Stadium on Saturday night with it being the weekend after Thanksgiving and nothing left on the line as far as LSU fans are concerned. That is an unexpected slap in the face at a time when there is a need to collect every penny possible from the athletic department’s gravy train.

Was this just a loss stemming from unfortunate circumstances, or does this latest debacle represent a crack in the foundation? Those are the debates that will be going on throughout the state, on talk radio, and on Internet message boards.

This holiday week is going to bring added significance for Miles and his coaching staff. Not only do they need to devise a game plan that will put it in a position to pick up a win against Arkansas, but they also need to begin the process of winning the fan base back.

That will certainly prove more difficult. And, unlike the glaring clock management problems that have surfaced throughout the season, winning back the fan base is something that cannot be ignored.

Tigers rally against Rebels falls short, 25-23

Associated Press

So many unusual things happened in the final 3 minutes of Mississippi’s victory Saturday against No. 10 LSU, it got confusing.

Even for the participants.

”I don’t know what all happened down there at the end,” Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said. ”I just know the scoreboard read 25-23 Ole Miss Rebels.”

Nutt’s confusion was nothing compared to what was happening on the LSU sideline as precious seconds ticked off the clock with less than a minute left and the game on the line.

The Tigers were divided over what plays to call, lost 17 seconds when the team tried for a timeout and didn’t get it, and there was admittedly no backup plan when LSU went for the end zone on the last play of the game and came up short at the Ole Miss 5 with 1 second left.

”I can only tell you that the management at the back end of the game was the issue,” LSU coach Les Miles said, later adding: ”It’s my fault that we didn’t finish first in that game.”

When reporters asked Miles which coach decided to try to spike the ball before the clock restarted rather than going for a field goal, he said he wasn’t yet sure and would have to find out. Jordan Jefferson and the Tigers never got lined up anyway and Ole Miss earned its second straight win over the Tigers and the first at home since 1998.

Nutt has beaten LSU four straight times with Ole Miss and Arkansas and has never experienced anything like it.

”You were holding your breath every play,” he said.

It was the first time Ole Miss (8-3, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) beat LSU (8-3, 4-3) in consecutive seasons since 1997-99. The win also gives the Rebels the inside track to second place in the SEC West, which could lead to a better bowl spot when invitations are handed out.

Until the final quarter it was a game only a defensive coordinator could love. But things got interesting fast.

First Dexter McCluster , who ran for 148 yards, completed the first pass of his career with a 27-yard scoring strike to a wide-open Shay Hodge , giving Ole Miss a 22-17 lead 29 seconds into the final quarter.

On their next drive, the Rebels appeared to put it away with a 15-play, 8:26 drive that ended with a short field goal to make the lead eight points.

Jefferson answered with a 10-play, 66-yard drive that ended with his second touchdown pass to Rueben Randle , a 25-yarder that left LSU with a 2-point conversion to tie it.

Ole Miss’ Cassius Vaughn was called for pass interference on a fade to the left corner of the end zone, putting the ball at the 1. Jefferson made the same pass on LSU’s second attempt, but was hurried by Kendrick Lewis . The ball and Vaughn arrived at the same time and Terrance Toliver couldn’t make the catch.

But Brandon LaFell recovered the onside kick with 1:16 left at the LSU 42, giving the Tigers one last chance. LaFell gave his team another big boost when two plays later he took Jefferson’s pass, broke two tackles and ran 20 yards after the catch to move LSU into field goal range at the Ole Miss 32.

Here’s where it got sketchy for LSU. Kentrell Lockett forced Jefferson to throw his first pass away, then the quarterback was sacked by Emmanuel Stephens , a play that pushed the Tigers all the way back to the Ole Miss 41.

”We talked about runs,” Miles said. ”I felt like the quarterback could manage the situation. That was my mistake.”

Miles said he suggested to assistant coaches that they call a run play at that point, but allowed a pass play to be signaled in. Jefferson completed a 7-yard pass to Stevan Ridley with 26 seconds left and Miles said he thought he heard timeout being called.

But the referees never got the message and 17 seconds ticked off the clock before coaches realized what was happening, leaving LSU with fourth and 26 at the Ole Miss 48 with 9 seconds left.

”The clock ran down, timeouts were being called verbally and I didn’t relate that to the official apparently and that was the mistake,” Miles said.

The team was going for the end zone on the last pass play, he said, and when Jefferson found Toliver in traffic at the 6 with a second left, the team was unprepared. Rather than run the field goal unit on field while there appeared to be confusion with the chain gang, Jordan tried to get the team lined up to spike the ball but never got the play off.

”I know there was a lot of confusion on the sideline,” said Jefferson, who rallied the Tigers with 120 yards passing and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. ”Nobody knew what to do.”

Ole Miss fans rushed the field and celebrated with the Rebels while several LSU players dropped their helmets to the field in dismay.

Despite all the confusion, Vaughn said the Ole Miss defense knew exactly what was going on as the Tigers foundered making a final decision.

”You have to have a plan,” Vaughn said. ”I’m looking at the ref waiting for him to call the play. As soon as I hear the whistle and the clock went to zero, I threw my helmet and ran off. It felt good to beat LSU.”

Lady Tigers pass first test of the season

By Stephen Evans

LSU women’s basketball head coach Van Chancellor touted the 24th-ranked Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders as the most under-rated team in America this season.

Chancellor also poor-mouthed his squad, ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press poll, as perhaps the country’s most over-rated team.

If Wednesday night was any indication, the pollsters appear to be right on, as the LSU Lady Tigers cruised past the Blue Raiders 61-40 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The victory avenged losses to the Blue Raiders the past two seasons and improved the Lady Tigers’ overall record to 2-0. Middle Tennessee fell to 1-1 in scoring its fewest points in a game since January 5, 1998, when it scored just 32 points against the University of Tennessee-Martin.

“There isn’t any doubt that that was one of the greatest defensive efforts I have ever seen,” Chancellor said after the game. “(LSU assistant coach) Bob Starkey did a wonderful job of devising a wonderful defensive plan. To hold them to 40 points was just unbelievable.”

Much of LSU’s defensive scheme centered around letting preseason All-American selection Alysha Clark, who Chancellor predicted would be a top three selection in the WNBA Draft, get her points while trying to shut down the remainder of the Middle Tennessee roster.

The Lady Tigers did just that and also did a quality job in limiting Clark’s production, making her much less of a factor than was expected. Much of that credit after the game went to sophomore post player Taylor Turnbow, who drew the defensive assignment against Clark. Turnbow, with some help from her teammates, limited Clark to 16 points, including just five in the first half.

That, coupled with a career scoring and rebounding night herself, drew praise from her head coach.

“The Turnbow on Clark (matchup) was just outstanding,” said Chancellor. “Not only did (Turnbow) have 12 rebounds, but she had 17 points. This was coming out party for Taylor Turnbow. She was truly, truly outstanding for us.”

Turnbow and the Lady Tigers set the tone early, stymieing Middle Tennessee in the first half and delivering a knockout blow from which it could not recover. The Lady Tigers forced 16 Blue Raider turnovers in the first 20 minutes and scored 21 points off of those Middle Tennessee miscues. In all, LSU forced 28 Middle Tennessee turnovers in the game.

The Blue Raiders also went cold from the field, making just 6-of-22 first half field goal attempts, most of which were contested by the LSU defense. That included a 6:42 scoreless stretch at the end of the half, a streak that was snapped by a three-point heave from just inside the half-court stripe as the halftime buzzer sounded.

Despite the low-percentage three-pointer, LSU held Middle Tennessee to just 15 points in the first half and, by the halftime break, built a 35-15 advantage.

“LSU played a great game,” said Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Insell. “You have to give them credit. They came out and played a great game on the boards early. They made some shots. They gave us problems tonight, but we knew that coming in.”

While the first half was a dominating 20 minutes by the Lady Tigers, the second half proved to be a tougher battle, though LSU was never threatened on the scoreboard. The game turned much more physical, the type of contest that suits the Lady Tigers just fine.

Middle Tennessee would never get closer than within 16 points of the Lady Tigers, despite LSU struggling to make field goals. The Lady Tigers shot just 9-of-28 from the floor in the second half, but it was good enough to put the wraps on an impressive early-season home win.

“I think they got better,” Insell said when comparing this season’s version of the Lady Tigers to last season’s. “They took all those freshmen and played all year in the SEC and got better. They are very athletic. The kids are long and fundamentally sound. They’ve done a good job with them. I think they are one of the top ten teams in the country. I don’t think they’re overrated. I think they’re only going to get better.”

Joining Turnbow in double figures for the Lady Tigers was LaSondra Barrett. She came off the bench and scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds. Allison Hightower, who led the team in scoring in the season opener against Centenary, scored just seven points in the game.

Tigers set to play in The Garden after downing WKU

By Stephen Evans

For the LSU men’s basketball team, its ability to make shots from outside the paint will go a long way in determining its ultimate success this season.

That was evident on Tuesday night, when LSU hosted the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers in the second round of the Dick’s Preseason NIT.

The Hilltoppers were determined to make the Tigers prove they could make a jump one night after LSU shot just 34% from the field, including misfiring on all 15 of its three-point attempts, in the opening round of the tournament.

Tuesday night LSU was able to do just enough, defeating Western Kentucky 71-60 to advance to the tournament semifinals next week in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

The Tigers were led by guard Bo Spencer who bounced back from his poor shooting performance on Monday to hit several clutch three-pointers and then rally the Tigers at the end, allowing LSU to pull away from its opponent and cruise toward a showdown with the No. 12 Connecticut Huskies next Wednesday in the Big Apple.

Spencer finished with a game-high and career-high 28 points and notched another career high by pulling down seven rebounds. He added four assists and two steals.

“That’s a good win for us,” said LSU head coach Trent Johnson. “That’s a good basketball team we beat. They return the nucleus of a team that was a basket away from going to the (Sweet 16) last season. I couldn’t think of better way to spend Thanksgiving than going to New York.”

Spencer’s performance was just what the doctor ordered for the Tigers. With senior Tasmin Mitchell off to a slow offensive start this season and LSU already limited in numbers, his play and that of Storm Warren have buoyed the Tigers early on.

“I had a bad day shooting (Monday) so my coaches told me just to let the game come to me and to stay focused and keep running the team,” Spencer said. “Towards the end tonight I started shooting the ball with confidence and it just went in. I shot with confidence today and it started to fall.”

While Spencer connected on four-of-nine three pointers, the rest of the Tigers continued to struggle from the field, especially from outside the three-point arch. LSU made just 5-of-15 three-pointers and shot 47.1% from the floor.

The Hilltoppers sagged its zone defense into the paint during much of the game, daring the Tigers to shoot from the outside. LSU missed its first four three-point shots and found offensive sets difficult to navigate early on until Spencer connected on back-to-back three pointers midway through the first half.

Those shots turned a 13-10 Tiger deficit into a 16-13 LSU lead and opened things up a bit for the LSU offense.

Tasmin Mitchell added a basket to push LSU’s lead to five points, a lead which would prove to be LSU’s largest of the half. The teams traded baskets until Western Kentucky eventually whittled it down to a two-point Tiger advantage.

After a missed three-pointer by LSU’s Aaron Dotson, Western Kentucky tied the game at 20-20 on a lay-up by Sergio Kerusch. The teams continued trading baskets throughout the remainder of the tightly-contested first half, which featured six ties and eight lead changes.

LSU broke a 27-27 tie on a Mitchell lay-up with 0:25 left in the half before Jameson Tripping sent the Hilltoppers into the halftime locker room with a 30-29 lead after he buried a three-pointer from the wing at the halftime buzzer.

Storm Warren came out in the second half and made the Tigers first two buckets after halftime before a Spencer lay-up gave LSU a 35-34 lead with 17:47 left to play.�
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LSU would eventually go on top by four points, but the Tigers could not connect on enough outside shots to put the pesky Hilltoppers away. Western Kentucky eventually regained the lead when Cliff Dixon’s three-pointer pushed the Hilltoppers ahead 45-44 with 11:54 remaining.

Western Kentucky would grow the lead to three points, 55-52, before LSU answered with a three of its own, this time from reserve forward Dennis Harris. A Spencer lay-up briefly put the Tigers back on top before Western Kentucky’s A.J. Slaughter added a lay-up of his own to tie the game for the 12th time.

From there the Tiger defense turned up the pressure and the Maravich Assembly Center crowd rose to its feet following a three-pointer by Spencer, a thunderous dunk from Harris, and a driving lay-up by Spencer that pushed the LSU advantage to 64-57.

The Tigers sealed the game with free throws, making 7-of-9 shots from the charity stripe in the game’s final 49 seconds, icing the victory for the Tigers.

“Bo Spencer and Storm Warren stepped up and played really well,” said Johnson. “Storm is improving with every possession in front of our eyes. A lot of you made a comment about our shooting yesterday. Like I said, I don’t worry about Bo shooting. He shot the ball well and made some good plays when we needed it.”

Warren scored 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. It marked his third double-double in as many games this season.

Mitchell finished with 12 points but was just 5-of-13 from the field. He added eight rebounds for the Tigers.

“It was a hard fought game against a good basketball team,” said Western Kentucky head coach Ken McDonald. “We put ourselves in position to win the game, but didn’t finish out the way we needed to finish it out. I thought LSU picked up their aggression level in the last 10 minutes and we didn’t respond well enough and execute in situations we needed to execute. That is the difference in the game.”

Western Kentucky missed five of its six shots and turned the ball over twice in the final three minutes of the game after the score was tied at 57-57. Overall Western Kentucky, which shot 34.9% from the field, made just 5-of-17 shots in the game’s final ten minutes.

“We are very disappointed,” McDonald continued. “We should be going to New York. I felt like we were the best team in this pod and I don’t back down from that. LSU outplayed us in the last four minutes. They went out and got it and you have to give them credit for that.”

The Tigers are guaranteed two games in New York next weekend. In addition to their game against Connecticut, the Tigers will face either Duke or Arizona St., who will battle on the opposite side of the bracket.

Gibbs, Nola shine in Purple & Gold World Series

By Bill Franques
LSU Sports Information

Catcher Micah Gibbs and shortstop Austin Nola drove in two runs each to lift the Gold team to a 5-2 victory over the Purple in Game 1 of the Purple-Gold World Series Tuesday in Alex Box Stadium.

The Purple-Gold World Series is a three-game intrasquad series that concludes LSU’s five-week fall practice session.

Game 2 is set for 3 p.m. Wednesday and Game 3 starts at 3 p.m. Thursday. The seven-inning games are open to the public, and admission is free.

The Gold collected seven hits in Tuesday’s contest, including a two-RBI double by Gibbs. The junior from Pflugerville, Texas  was 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk.

Nola, a sophomore from Baton Rouge, also contributed a two-RBI double for the Gold squad.

Right-hander Ben Alsup, a junior from Ruston, La., earned the victory for the Gold, limiting the Purple to one run in four innings with six strikeouts.

Sophomore right-hander Joey Bourgeois, a transfer from LSU-Eunice, pitched two scoreless innings to earn the save for the Gold.

“I thought it was a pretty crisply played ball game despite the chilly weather,” said LSU coach Paul Mainieri. “Alsup delivered a solid performance as a starter, and I was very pleased with the pitching overall.”

Senior first baseman Blake Dean, who is returning from off-season shoulder surgery, was 2-for-4 with a double for the Purple squad.

“It was great to see Blake swinging the bat the way he did today,” Mainieri said of the all-American from Crestview, Fla. “He seems to be progressing very well in his recovery from the surgery.”

Mainieri said junior right-hander Daniel Bradshaw will start Game 2 on the mound for the Gold squad, and the Purple will counter with junior right-hander Austin Ross.

Hightower named ESPN.com preseason All-American

By Bill Martin
LSU Sports Information

LSU senior guard Allison Hightower picked up another preseason accolade as she has been named to the 2009-10 ESPN.com Preseason All-America Second Team, which was released by the website this week.

Hightower, a native of Arlington, Texas, averaged 14.9 points per game last season and she tossed in 20 points in LSU’s season-opening win over Centenary on Sunday. The 2010 Southeastern Conference Preseason Player of the Year outscored the entire Centenary team as LSU tied a school record in fewest points allowed in a 92-19 win.

It was Hightower’s seventh career 20-point game and third straight dating back to the final two games of the 2008-09 season. She scored 26 against Green Bay in the NCAA Tournament first round and followed that up with 21 points versus Louisville in the second round.

It is the first time an LSU player has reached the 20-point plateau in three straight games since Sylvia Fowles did it against Michigan State, Maryland and Louisiana-Lafayette in November of 2007.

Said ESPN.com’s Mechelle Voepel of Hightower, “A do everything guard who carried LSU last season but has more experienced help as a senior.”

“She shoulders a big load with such a young team around her, but Hightower proved last season that she is up to it,” said Charlie Creme of ESPN.com.

Hightower and the seventh-ranked Lady Tigers (1-0) take on No. 24 Middle Tennessee at 7 p.m. CST Wednesday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The contest will be televised live by Cox Sports Television (CST).

Here is a complete list of Hightower’s preseason honors:
State Farm Wade Trophy Watch List
John Wooden Award Watch List
Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Watch List
Sporting News Preseason First Team All-American
ESPN.com Preseason Second Team All-American
SEC Preseason Player of the Year (media, coaches)
Preseason First-Team All-SEC (media, coaches)

For more information on LSU women’s basketball:
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