LSU basketball covers late in bad beat for Missouri bettors

Not a lot has gone right for the LSU men's basketball team since the calendar flipped to 2023 — almost nothing, in fact. The Tigers have lost all nine games they've played in the new year, the latest an 87-77 setback at Missouri on Wednesday night.

But if you were brave enough to bet on LSU, you might have received an epic win in this one. Of course, if you bet on Mizzou, it was one of the season's worst bad beats.

The point spread closed at Missouri -9½, which wasn't affected by the wild finish. But for most of the time since the line was posted Tuesday night at Caesars Sportsbook, official odds partner of Bet.NOLA.com, the available line was -10 or -10½ (and even higher, at least at first).

It didn't look like the exact number would come into play for most of the night: Mizzou jumped to a 34-16 lead, led by 13 at halftime and never saw its lead dip below 11 points in the second half.

Never, that is, until a wild final sequence in which Missouri turned the ball over three times in the final 50 seconds.

The last of those came when the host Tigers could have all but run the clock out. Instead, LSU's Adam Miller stole the ball from Missouri's Kobe Brown, dribbled upcourt and drained a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left to cut the lead to its final margin of 87-77. Missouri, content to let the clock run out on its third straight victory, never attempted another shot.

"A lot of folks out there probably really watching this score closely right now," said Dave, who was doing play-by-play on SEC Network, as the final seconds ticked away.

Betting on the underdog, of course, means you can win even if they don't. Those with LSU +10½ tickets found that out in happy fashion on Wednesday night. Those on the other side? Well, they might just find themselves commiserating with ESPN SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt on his "Bad Beats" segment Monday.