Skylar Mays Buzzer Beater Gives LSU Basketball 60-59 Win Over Mississippi State to Stay Perfect in SEC Play

Despite poor shooting night, Tigers find out a way to scrap out a win over pesky Bulldogs team

Skylar Mays had simply not been great in the second half. He was 0-for-5 from the field, taking multiple off-balanced and ill advised shots. So naturally, down one point with 4.5 seconds left, Will Wade put the ball in the senior's hands and he delivered with a buzzer beating long two to give LSU (11-4, 3-0) a 60-59 win over Mississippi State.

It had been a struggle all year for Mays in late game situations. In losses to VCU and Utah State, the ball was put in his hands down the stretch and he couldn't convert. But the measure of a true leader is how you bounce back from tough lessons and that's exactly what he did.

The finish was wild and amazing and not the first time in the Will Wade era a game concluded like that. But for much of the 40 minutes, LSU was dominated on the boards like it hadn't been all season and shot a putrid 2-for-21 from three-point land.

When LSU beat Arkansas on the offensive glass by snatching 23 against the Razorbacks, Wade said after the game "just wait til you see Mississippi State." 

The Bulldogs came into Saturday night's game grabbing offensive rebounds on 41% of their misses. It turns out Wade may have under sold just how good the Bulldogs were on the glass as Mississippi State grabbed 20 offensive rebounds and won the overall battle 49-31 on the boards.

The dismal shooting performance from the outside was cancelled out by the 17 turnovers the Tigers forced and a strong second half from Emmitt Williams to keep the game within striking distance. Williams scored 15 of his 17 total points in the second half while the rest of the team could muster 15 points combined.

Trailing 55-54 with 1:06 to go, LSU, after missing 14 consecutive threes, LSU got the go ahead bucket from Charles Manning on a corner three off a Mays assist. It truly was the definition of 'our luck has to turn around at some point.'

Mississippi State would go on to tie and eventually take the lead with 4.5 seconds to go after a fumbled LSU rebound went out of bounds off a missed free throw.

Manning poured in 15 points for the Tigers while Mays' buzzer beater pushed him into double digits as well with 11 points.

The Tigers are winners of four straight and will now have a few days to prepare for a Texas A&M team coming off of wins over Vanderbilt and Ole Miss.