LSU Basketball Catches Fire From Three in 86-55 Win Over Louisiana Tech
Efficient scoring from the outside and blistering defense helped LSU take control of its Sunday afternoon outing with Louisiana Tech early and never look back. The Tigers used an all around effort in its most complete performance of the season to knock off the Bulldogs 86-55 in the PMAC.
Freshman Mwani Wilkinson drew his first start of the season and immediately made contributions on the floor. It won't show on the box score but his early hellacious defensive effort and quick twitch helped with deflections and set the tone defensively the rest of the way.
LA Tech shot just 31% from the field in the first half and 29% for the game. Offensively LSU was able to control the game with a bevy of three-point shots that the Bulldogs were simply unable to answer. The Tigers have held their last two opponents to a combined 98 points, the lowest in a two game stretch since 2011.
And the scary part is they could just be getting started on that end of the court.
“We have Cook out there, he’s healthy, he’s guarding the ball. We have Charles Manning Jr. back. Our final piece is when we get (Josh) LeBlanc eligible and we can get him out there,” Wade said. “Once we got him out there, I think we have the makings of what we want to do and need to do defensively. It’s no secret we played one of our best games defensively since we’ve been here with those three guys available for us and playing 13 plus minutes each.”
A 13-2 run in the first half created some separation as the Tigers utilized the three-point line to their advantage. The first five made field goals from LSU were from beyond-the-arc as the Tigers built a 24-12 lead.
The Tigers were paced throughout the evening by Javonte Smart and Darius Days, who poured in 22 of LSU’s first 31 points and finished the game with a combined 28 points. Smart in particular just looks much more comfortable in knowing when to score and the fluidity in which he’s approached his offense has been a tremendous improvement in his junior season.
LSU controlled in nearly every aspect as it built a 21 point lead in the first half before settling for a halftime 43-24 lead behind 48% shooting from the field and 58% from three-point range.
“Offensively, I thought we were okay. I didn’t think our offense was great. Fifteen turnovers, seven assists. They did some different things,” Wade said. “They came and doubled us off the bounce a couple times. We have to move that ball and share that ball a little bit better. I thought we should have scored 95, 100 points. We’ll get that fixed this week.”
If there was one area to nitpick with the team it was the 14 offensive rebounds the team surrendered. That’s been a consistent theme four games in and it’s a weird area for LSU to struggle with.
Under Wade, one of the areas of strength for the Tigers has been his team’s rebounding numbers, particularly on the offensive end. While adjusting to the the new defense is a component to some of the struggles there, Wade said it runs a lot deeper than that.
LSU came out of halftime a little sloppy with the ball, committing five turnovers in the opening 10 minutes that helped the Bulldogs cut the lead to 14 points. However, LSU would respond with an 8-0 run of its own to push the lead up over 20 points.
The Tigers made a concerted effort in the final 20 minutes to attack the rim after a dominant start from beyond-the-arc. LSU finished the game with five double-digit scorers and continued to bring the heat on its full court press throughout the half as well.
LSU has nearly a week to prepare for its next opponent as the Tigers next take on South Florida on Dec. 12 at 1:30 p.m.
