/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/30026793/478512693.0.jpg)
In the day's third game, LSU held off Alabama 68-56.
The game began close, but the Tigers went on a 15-3 run after the under 8:00 TV timeout to close out the half and go up by 11 at intermission. From there, the teams more or less traded scores the rest of the way. The Tigers' lead would dip to seven or expand to 15, but the Tide was never able to put together a real run to tighten things up considerably. Bama's offense struggled, as it so often did this year, as the Tide shot just 36% from the field including 29% from three. LSU, meanwhile, was a far more efficient 50% from the floor, including 11-for-22 from three.
Shavon Coleman led all scorers with 15, with all of those points coming on three pointers. Trevor Releford tied for the Alabama team lead with 11 in his final game in crimson, sharing that lead with Shannon Hale. It's still an open question what happens with Anthony Grant, but the plan does not include firing him in Atlanta.
LSU will take on Kentucky in its next game.
In the nightcap, Ole Miss struggled for a while and then pulled away for a while as it made it past Mississippi State to the tune of 78-66.
The Bulldogs scored the first 10 points of the game and actually never trailed for a lot of this game. The Rebels didn't get their first lead until making it a 57-56 game with 8:12 to go in the second half. After taking that lead, Ole Miss would hold a 21-10 edge the rest of the way thanks to MSU basically just running out of gas. As the Rebels crept ahead, Marshall Henderson made back-to-back threes that really seemed to break the will of the Bulldogs. It took a while, but the better team of the two pulled away and put it away.
Henderson and Jarvis Summers were the top men for Ole Miss, each scoring 21 points apiece. Likewise on the other side, Craig Sword and Fred Thomas shared the high point mark with 16 each.
Ole Miss gets Georgia in its next game.