After losing six straight games to LSU, you could say Ole Miss was due.

The Rebels built a 24-point lead by hitting 14 of 16 shots at one point in the first half and swished 19 free throws in the second half as they held off the 25th ranked Tigers for a 76-72 SEC upset Tuesday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

“The first 10 minutes of the first half they were hitting shots left and right,” LSU forward Darius Days said of the 13½-point underdog Rebels. “They were too comfortable in the beginning of the game. We dug ourselves a hole, tried to come back. But in the first 10 minutes of the first half, it just wasn’t there.”

Ole Miss (12-10 overall, 3-6 SEC) recorded its second win over a ranked team this season and its first SEC road win. The Rebels did so with a unique balance of 22 field goals and 23 free throws, digging deep in the second half after losing point guard Daeshun Ruffin with a knee injury.

Ruffin led Ole Miss with 19 points, despite exiting with 12:05 left to play after being fouled by LSU’s Efton Reid. Without him, there was almost a 7½-minute stretch in the second half in which the Rebels didn’t score a field goal, but LSU made no headway because it missed 11 of 12 shots in that same time frame. Ole Miss scored one field goal in the final 9:51.

The Rebels compensated by getting in the free throw bonus almost 6½ minutes earlier than LSU, hitting 7 of 10 free throws in that gap to the Tigers’ 2 of 4.

“I’ve never been more proud of our locker room,” said Ole Miss head coach and former LSU assistant Kermit Davis. “We came out and played as good as we could play. We talked about trying to play much faster in transition against their defense before the game. Everybody played great which allowed us to get off to a great start.”

The Tigers (16-6, 4-5 SEC) didn’t even get a boost by giving senior point guard Xavier Pinson his first start since injuring his right knee against Tennessee on Jan. 8.

Pinson, who missed five games before playing seven minutes in Saturday’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge loss at TCU, lasted almost 16 minutes against Ole Miss. He clearly had no burst and quickness, so LSU coach Will Wade pulled him when it became evident LSU had to full court press every possession to make it a competitive game.

The Tigers started the game like they were jogging in mud and stayed there for the first 15 minutes before an 11-0 LSU run in a span of 3:53 reduced Ole Miss’ lead to 45-32 at halftime.

“We had two good days of practice, a good film session last night, a good shootaround today,” Wade said. “I thought we were ready to go, ready to rock and roll today. We didn’t come out with the urgency and the desperation and the hunger we needed to start the game.”

The Tigers opened the second half with a pair of Days’ 3-pointers in the first 75 seconds and LSU had its first single-digit deficit since 12:35 in the first half at 45-38.

In the game's final 90 seconds, LSU worked its way into trailing by one possession three times. But Ole Miss answered with 5 of 6 free throws and a layup and escaped with the win.

Even though Days had a second-straight double with 21 points and 13 rebounds and sophomores Tari Eason and Eric Gaines scored 16 each, LSU again couldn’t overcome its foul problems.

Ole Miss, now 9-0 this season when attempting 20 or more free throws, tied its season high 23 made free throws (15 more than LSU) and set a season high with 31 attempts (18 more than LSU). The Rebels entered Tuesday’s game as the SEC’s second-best free throw shooting team in conference games, so the Tigers’ fouling played into the Rebels’ wheelhouse.

LSU again couldn’t finish around the basket, missing 18 of 30 shots around the rim as the Tigers finished at 43.1 percent (28 of 65) from the field. Ole Miss, after its 65.4 percent first half, cooled to 52.4 percent (22 of 42) for the night.

The Tigers, losers of their last five of six games after a 15-1 start, head to Vanderbilt for a 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon start. Wade, a Nashville native, hasn’t won a game at Vandy in his five seasons as LSU’s coach.

“Everybody’s gonna count us out,” Wade said. “It’s a difficult spot, not a spot we thought we’d been in probably a month ago. But we’re going to figure it out. I believe in this group.”