Rapid Reaction: LSU Basketball Escapes Prairie View A&M in 104-90 Victory on Monday

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers rallied from 10 down with 17 minutes to play and outscored Prairie View A&M by 24 points the rest of the way to get a wild 104-90 win over the Panthers Monday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

LSU survived an amazing performance in the first half by Prairie View when they shot 66.7 percent from the field and made 10-of-13 three-pointers (76.9%) and led the game, 56-51, at intermission.

The Tigers set a school record for free throws in the contest that dated back to the same day of the year (Dec. 22) in 1979 by making 43-of-49 attempts. The previous mark was 41 against Tulane.

In the first half the two teams combined for 16 three-pointers as LSU made 6-of-12 of their own and LSU was at 50 percent from the field but Dontae Horne and Tai’Reon Joseph combined for six long-distance makes as they combined for 36 of Prairie View’s 56 points.

It was three-pointer and a two-pointer by Joseph that pushed Prairie View to a 63-53 advantage at the 17-minute mark. The Panthers continued to lead by nine, 71-62 on a tip-in layup by Keeshawn Mason with 14:23 to play, but it was at this point the Tigers began to turn the game.

LSU would score the next 11 points to take a 73-71 lead in the game. Marquel Sutton made two free throws and Max Mackinnon made two more free throws after a technical foul on Prairie View during the Sutton free throws.

After a Prairie View miss, a Rashad King jumper cut the margin to three, at 71-68, with 13:54 to play. The Panthers called timeout and on the ensuing possession, King blocked a PV shot and then on the other end hit a three-pointer to tie the contest at 71-71.

The Panthers turned the ball over and Sutton hit a bucket to give LSU the lead at 73-71 at the 12:42 mark. Prairie View would tie the game at 73-73 on its next possession but the Tigers would actually take the lead for good on two Jalen Reece free throws, 75-73, with 12:05 to play. The Tigers would score six straight to go up 79-73 and would not trail the rest of the game, opening the lead to as much as 16.

All nine players that saw action for the Tigers scored and six scored in double figures, led by Sutton and point guard Dedan Thomas Jr., with 21 each. Sutton had his sixth double double of the season with 11 boards (six offensive) and Thomas kept his league lead in assists, posting seven.

Mike Nwoko had 18 points, while King had 13, Mackinnon had 12 and Pablo Tamba 10.

LSU’s 49 free throw attempts tied the seventh most in a single game at LSU.

Sutton made 13-of-14 free throws, Thomas made 11-of-13 and Nwoko posted 8-of-9.

Baton Rouge native Joseph finished 11-of-20 from the field for Prairie View with five treys and a game high 34 points, while Horne finished with 24 points and five assists. Joey Madimba added 16 points.

Prairie View would shoot just 29.6 percent in the second half (8-of-27) and just 2-of-8 from distance. For the game the Panthers finished at 48.1 percent overall (26-of-54), making 12-of-21 three-pointers (57.1 percent) and a very good 26-of-28 at the free throw line (92.9 percent).

LSU for the game would make 27-of-57 from the field (47.4 percent), including seven treys and the 43 free throws. The Tigers would have a 36-22 advantage in rebounds, an 18-6 advantage in second chance points and 19-10 advantage in points off turnovers even though both teams turned it over the same amount of times (11).

LSU would lead for a combined 25:25 seconds to 12:42 for Prairie View. The game was tied five times and there were eight lead changes.

The Tigers will now take the next few days off for the Christmas break, returning on Friday evening for practice in preparation for the final non-conference game of the season on Monday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m. against Southern Miss.

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LSU vs. Prairie View A&M
Men’s Basketball
Post-game quotes
December 22, 2025

LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon

Opening Statement…
“It was a unique game, certainly. I want to give a lot of credit to Coach Smith and their team, that was a phenomenal performance from them in the first half. Obviously, I want us to be a whole lot better defensively; it’s our job to make the opponent miss.

"The shot making from (Tai’Reon) Joseph and (Dontae) Horne was just really special. You’ll see those highlight tapes going out to professional agents for years to come, they were terrific.”

“As for our team, I’m proud of the response there in the second half. We were down by 10 with 17 minutes to go, and I believe over the next 14 minutes that we outscored them by 26. If you look at their shooting numbers in the first half, just insanity. Second half, they went 29% from the floor and 25% from three, so a lot better there.

"Offensively, we really tried to assault the rim in the paint. Kent Lowe tells me we had a free-throw program record (43 free throws made as a team). If you like free throws, it was a good to watch some ball. They shot 93% at the line and we were 88%. Certainly not how we drew it up, but we’re thankful for the win and we’re excited to go on Christmas break and report back again to get better on the 26th.”

On the strong shooting from Prairie View A&M in the first half…
“We talk to our players about poise over panic. I think there were sometimes where we could have gone into panic. Interesting thing about it – there are around 368 Division I teams now and Prairie View is 354th in the percentage of their shots are three pointers. They just don’t rely on the three. They average around 5.5 makes per game and I think they made that in the first few minutes of the game.

"Halftime was very calm; I had done my challenging in the timeouts in the first half and there was really nothing else I could say from that standpoint. A big key – six guys in double figures is great, but I thought Jalen Reece’s impact on the game was massive.

"I thought he had some teeth on the defensive side of the ball and that he was physical and got into the ball to pressure it. I thought he was fantastic and changed the whole complexion of the game for us in the second half. I’m really proud of him.”

On LSU’s offensive performance inside the paint tonight…
“I thought it was the difference in the game from us from an offensive standpoint. I thought we got good shots and the 14 offensive rebounds was a big part of that as well, so you end up winning the glass there. We had a matchup with Marquel (Sutton) that we liked.

"We had to downsize a little bit – we did that in the first half against SMU out of necessity where we had (Pablo) Tamba and Sutton at the four and five position. I thought that the speed of that group against the dribble-drive and the offensive performance that Prairie View was having today was important for us. We kept stressing that and I believe we were in the double-bonus with like 14 minutes to go in the half. You weren’t allowed to shoot unless you were wide open from the perimeter.”

Post-game quotes
LSU Players

Graduate Student Forward Pablo Tamba

Unseen heroes, Jalen Reece and Rashad King what were they able to do to help this team…
“I had two fouls in the first half, so I had time to sit on the bench and talk with them a lot. They were really engaged even when they were outside of the court. I really love that. I was on the bench really talking with them. They were super engaged in the game. They were really talking to all our teammates about how to guard the guys or how to stay engaged. So, they didn’t surprise me when they went out there and got the job done.”

Did there foul trouble change the momentum of the game…
“Yeah absolutely. I mean they have great guys all around like everybody was really engaged in their team. I really give them props for that. Having guys like that foul out was a good help. Cause it’s the same we have guys in foul trouble too. You know it always helps.

Fifth-year Senior Forward Marquel Sutton

Things to work on with last nonconference game next week before SEC play.
“Definitely defense. Just guarding the ball, guarding on man, one-on-one and just playing together. Just having that urgency to play together. Just believing in each other and having that confidence in each other.”

Scoring without moving the clock…
“It definitely helped us a lot get to the free-throw line. We try to make more shots at the free-throw line than our opponent takes. I think we did that. Just being aggressive getting to the free-throw line. We knew they were going to foul a lot and we had to make them, and I think we did that."

PVAMU Head Coach Byron Smith
On his overall thoughts about the contest…
“It was a heck of a basketball game. What a way to go into Christmas. Obviously, we were looking to get the win. We played the right way, played hard, played smart, played together but just came up short. LSU has a really good team. I am expecting great things from them in the SEC.”

On No. 3 Tai’Reon Joseph’s 34-point performance…
“He’s probably been the best kept secret in college basketball. I think he’s the 10th, 11th, 12th leading scorer in the country. He can play a lot of places. We are fortunate to have him. I thought he did a good job. I thought he kind of got away from himself tonight with a little bit of talking way too much. He’s a heck of a player and heck of a talent. I’m really proud of him to come home to Baton Rouge and have a performance like this.”

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