LSU Basketball Dominates from Start to Finish in 96-43 Trouncing of Southeastern
It was a brisk Monday night to be out and about but inside the PMAC the Tigers were anything but cold. A balanced offensive attack and a woeful shooting display from Southeastern were the driving points behind a dominant 96-43 LSU win.
Southeastern shot just 5-of-29 (17%) in the first half and 22 % for the game as LSU built out its lead behind a dominant paint presence. The Tigers controlled the paint, scoring 32 points in the paint and forced 18 turnovers throughout the course of the game.
From a player's perspective, all of the freshmen had opportunities to shine in this game as Wilkinson, Cam Thomas and Eric Gaines all had moments of brilliance. The three combined to score 38 points on the night, with Wilkinson providing the biggest spark with his five offensive rebounds that led to his 12 point scoring effort of his career.
Thomas has opened his career with three straight games of 20+ points and credits his older teammates like Javonte Smart and Trendon Watford with the quick adjustment as well as his own hard work and preparation. Through three games Thomas is shooting 49% from the field, 44% from three and 87% from the free throw line.
"No butterflies for me. I'm pretty much built for this,” Thomas said.
"He's so laser focused and locked in on every detail of everything that goes into the game and goes into his preparation,” Wade said. "He's a complete player and has an unbelievable routine and discipline with everything he does."
Forward Trendon Watford poured in 20 points to go along with nine boards while Darius Days tacked on 11 points and seven rebounds.
More importantly, this was the kind of effort you hoped to see from the Tigers following the loss at Saint Louis as eight different LSU players scored in the opening 20 minutes.
This game was far less about the stats or the score and much more about how the team was able to build on some of its deficiencies seen in the first handful of games in Saint Louis. With the matchup zone LSU played with for example, the defense is more susceptible to giving up long range threes but on Monday night, the Lions shot just 5-of-29 from long range.
"I think a lot of it is being more familiar, being more comfortable with it," Wade said of the defensive performance. "Our communication was much better and we changed some stuff up. We're gonna be as good as our defense and rebounding if we wanna be a championship team and that's where we gotta improve."
One of the areas Will Wade talked about improving were the amount of layups the Tigers gave up on defense. After allowing Saint Louis 12 layups on Saturday, the effort was much improved, allowing just 6-of-16 shots at the rim.
Now this was against Southeastern, whose largest player ran about 6-foot-9 and it helped that the Lions couldn't hit shots from anywhere on the floor, covered or open. But making sure the rotations are crisp, the fundamentals are sound and the shots are smart were still the basics that were evident throughout the course of the game.
LSU now has some time before its next matchup with Louisiana Tech visiting the PMAC on Sunday at 5 p.m.
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