The shots of Stefan Moody, Jarvis Summers and Snoop White wouldn't fall, and as a result Ole Miss lost to the LSU Tigers.
The Rebel scoring trio was just 4 of 18 from 3-point range, and Ole Miss shot just 21-percent from beyond the arc.
Summers scored 13 points, but forward M.J. Rhett led the Rebels with 15 points (7 rebounds).
Moody (14 pts) and White (8 pts) were a combined 8 of 28 from the field.
The effort wasn't good enough to stop the considerably more sharp LSU Tigers (40 percent from the field, 30 percent from 3-point range).
Box Score.
The most disappointing part of the loss was the defensive lapses that led to far too many wide open shots by LSU.
The most disappointing part of the loss was the defensive lapses that led to far too many wide open shots by LSU.
Andy Kennedy thought his team looked lethargic.
"How can you be lethargic in this situation?" Kennedy asked reporters incredulously after the game. "It boggles my mind."
The home loss puts Ole Miss in a slight hole as far as NCAA talk goes, but at 10-6 (1-2 SEC) with 15 more conference games to play, it's way too early to panic. However, the margin for error did just get much more slim.
The Rebels travel to Arkansas on Saturday (8:30 p.m., ESPNU).
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I encouraged Tyler Slay, who writes for OMRebelNation.com on a regular basis now, to start weighing in with his game reactions whenever time allows. Hopefully, it'll become a regular thing. Here's Tyler's reaction to last night's loss:
Tyler's Thoughts @slaytyler
It's strange to see a home game on the schedule and cringe, but that's what it's like to be an Ole Miss basketball supporter right now.
The Rebels are 5-4 at home with losses to teams ranked as low as 187 and 155 in NCAA RPI rankings. On the road or in neutral sites they have wins over 34 Cincinnati, 87 Oregon, and an overtime loss to Kentucky.
LSU isn't a bad loss, but nobody cares if losses are good or bad when you simply have too many. Andy Kennedy's 2012-2013 NCAA tournament team had only 8 regular season losses, and they had to make it to the final round of the SEC tournament to be considered for a play-in bid. Winning the tournament is what gave them a guaranteed spot in the big dance.
There's a difference, though. That team had no significant non-conference victories. This year's team has some high moments to show off. That team also had late season losses to, at the time, dismal South Carolina and Mississippi State. Stefan Moody, Jarvis Summers and LaDarius White will have to step up to make sure that doesn't happen this year.
"I didn't like our fight," said Kennedy. He can probably expect to see his team fight at 19th ranked Arkansas on Saturday. For whatever reason, Ole Miss has been at its best against tough teams on the road. The Razorbacks would be a big win, especially if Arkansas can stay hot for the rest of the season.