No. 19 LSU hopes to rebound from loss vs. Oklahoma State

It's only November, but No. 19 LSU and Oklahoma State are getting a taste of what basketball is like in March.

On Friday, LSU battled No. 14 Florida State into overtime before losing 79-76 on a last-second shot and Oklahoma State ran into defending national champion Villanova and fell 77-58.

As a result, LSU and Oklahoma State will play Sunday for third place in the AdvoCare Invitational at the HP Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Florida State and Villanova will play in the title game.

"It felt like a big-time game in March," LSU coach Will Wade was quoted by NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune as saying in his postgame radio interview. "Two good teams going at each other. We couldn't close it out.

"At the end of the day, we turned the ball over way too much. You can't turn the ball over 18 times and win. We got annihilated on the glass. We gave up 22 offensive rebounds."

Wade said LSU will have a similar problem against Oklahoma State if the Tigers aren't more aggressive on the boards. Both teams have played Charleston, and Wave was able to scout Oklahoma State while preparing to play Charleston.

"They're big. They're physical," Wade said of the Cowboys. "We have to be a lot better on the backboards against them than we were (against FSU), that's for sure."

Mfiondu Kabengele made a 3-pointer with 0.5 of a second left in overtime to give Florida State the victory. Nonetheless, LSU was encouraged by its performance in its second game away from home.

"I think we learned a lot about ourselves this game," said guard Skylar Mays, who led LSU with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including four 3-pointers, and four assists. "We played a ranked team, a great team, and we hung in there. We gave ourselves a chance to win."

The Tigers (5-1) led the Seminoles by nine points with 3:05 left in regulation and four points with 30 seconds left but couldn't hold on. FSU finished regulation on a 12-3 run as Forrest Trunt's layup forced overtime.

The run continued at the start of overtime as the Seminoles used an offensive rebound to score the first basket, then hit a 3-pointer for a five-point lead.

LSU came back and pulled even at 76 when Tremont Waters made three free throws with 10 seconds left. Then Kabengele made his game-winner.

Oklahoma State didn't have to worry about a last-second loss because it couldn't keep up with Villanova as the Wildcats made a tournament-record 16 3-pointers.

"They play with a champion mindset," Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton told theRepublic.com. "You can sense there's urgency to the way they prepare, the way they warm up, the way they huddle during game, the way they communicate defensively."

The Cowboys are 3-2, 1-1 since Mike Cunningham joined the team after recovering from a left hamstring strain. He had 15 points against Villanova, making 5 of 10 3-pointers.

But it wasn't nearly enough.

"We were just off today," Boynton said of the loss to Villanova. "We let them control the tempo."