BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Jordan Wright scored a game-high 27 points leading LSU to an 89-80 victory over No. 22 Mississippi on Wednesday night.
Wright, a graduate transfer from Vanderbilt and a Baton Rouge area native, scored six of LSU’s nine points to close the first half and eight of Tigers’ 10 points to open the second half. He finished with seven rebounds, five assists and seven steals.
Jalen Cook added 16 points for LSU (11-6, 3-1 Southeastern Conference). Tyrell Ward contributed 11, including a trio of 3-pointers in two minutes during a 13-4 run that boosted the Tigers’ lead to 64-48 with 9:48 left to play.
LSU led 77-62 with 3:18 before Mississippi’s pressing defense caused two missed shots and two turnovers in a 10-0 run.
A deep corner 3-pointer by Mike Williams III stopped the bleeding and the Tigers hit 9 of 10 free throws in the final 32 seconds.
Mississippi (15-2, 2-2) got the bulk of its scoring from Matthew Murrell, Jaylen Murray and Allen Flanigan, all ranked among the SEC’s top 20 scorers.
Murray had 23 points, Flanigan 20 and Murrell 19 for the Rebels, who made their last 4 of 8 shots to avoid their worst field goal shooting performance of the season.
LSU chased Mississippi almost the entire first half before finally taking the lead on a Wright steal and with 1:45 left, then retaking it on a Cook 3-pointer with 1:04 remaining that held up for a 35-33 halftime advantage.
BIG PICTURE
Mississippi: Rebels’ junior guard Brandon Murray, who’s playing for his third school in three seasons, began his college career for LSU. He started 32 games for the Tigers, averaging 10 points and earning SEC All-Freshman team honors. Murray scored two points in 22 minutes.
LSU: With the LSU students back in school for the start of the spring semester, Wednesday’s home game drew just 8,777. LSU’s average home attendance ranks 11th in the 14-team SEC.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Mississippi just broke into the top 25. The loss to unranked LSU should drop the Rebels out of the rankings.
UP NEXT
Ole Miss: Plays at Auburn on Saturday.
LSU: Hosts Texas A&M on Saturday. ___
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