There was a battle of Tigers on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, between the LSU and Missouri Tigers in the SEC regular-season finale. These two teams came into Saturday night’s contest on very different trends. LSU entered winning four of its last six games in SEC play, while Missouri  looked to avoid becoming the first team since the 2018-19 Vanderbilt Commodores to go winless in SEC play. Ultimately, the LSU Tigers came out on top by a score of 84-80 in a game full of scoring runs.

The beginning of the game was relatively even, with both teams trading 7-0 runs within the first eight minutes. Neither team was able to take firm control early on, and the largest lead of the first half was only an eight-point lead that Missouri held. Eventually, Missouri’s shooting caught fire in the latter part of the first half. Noah Carter knocked down a pair of three-pointers and a layup to give him eight first-half points. Sean East II led Missouri with 11 first-half points.  Meanwhile, LSU struggled to establish offensive rhythm down the first-half stretch. Tyrell Ward led them with seven points in the first half, but LSU stalled from beyond the arc, shooting the three ball at just a 25% clip. Missouri took a 35-29 lead into the locker room.

However, LSU was not interested in allowing Missouri to get its first SEC victory on LSU’s home court during their senior night. LSU started the second half on a quick 8-3 burst, thanks to a couple of quick buckets by senior Trae Hannibal, to cut the Missouri lead to 38-37 early in the second half. Missouri weathered the storm by extending its lead back out to two possessions and not allowing LSU to take the lead back for the next couple of minutes. 

Then, the run of the game happened.  LSU went on a 14-0 run over a two-minute and 56-second span to go from trailing 45-38 to leading 52-45. Hannibal and freshman Mike Williams catalyzed LSU’s run,  which spanned over three minutes of game time before Missouri finally got back on the board with a  East layup. 

However, LSU kept the momentum, and two of the game’s biggest plays occurred within 30 seconds of each other. The first was when Hannibal dropped a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Tyrell Ward for a wide-open corner three. Then, after a quick Missouri turnover, Hannibal snuck out in transition for a vicious one-handed dunk that caused Dennis Gates to take a timeout. These two plays extended the LSU original 14-0 run to a 23-4 run. From there, LSU never looked back. Missouri showed resilience in the final minutes with an 11-0 run that included three-pointers from Tamar Bates and Carter and a put-back dunk from Aidan Shaw to cut the LSU lead to 74-64 with a minute and a half left. Missouri then cut the lead to three after Carter’s 3-pointer with 5.9 seconds left, which made the score 81-78. However, LSU held on thanks to good late free throw shooting (despite so many fouls on both sides in the final minute) and closed out a senior night victory at home. 

 East led Missouri with 26 points, five rebounds and two assists. Carter also had an excellent game for Missouri, finishing with 18 points and scoring 4/6 from three. Hannibal showed out on senior night for LSU with 24 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Hannibal got good support from Williams, who had 10 points, and Ward, who had 14 points. 

This game did not have any real SEC Tournament seeding implications, as Missouri was locked into the 14 seed. The only question for LSU was whether it would be the eighth or ninth seed against Mississippi State. Missouri will take on Georgia in the first round of the SEC tournament on Wednesday, and the winner will take on Florida in the second round.  LSU’s matchup with Mississippi State in the second round of the SEC tournament will be on Thursday.