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11/27/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports!


    BATON ROUGE: Our Fighting Tigers overcame a sluggish 1st half, and finished strong as they handed Missouri State a 73-58 loss.  Darius Days had a double-double, and lead the Tigers in scoring with 20 points (a career high), along with 10 rebounds.  
     LSU started fast as they took advantage of five MSU turnovers, racing out to a 13-5 lead, which included a nice alley-oop from Smart to Emmitt Williams. However, poor shot selection throughout the first half by the Tigers helped to keep a very talented Missouri State team in the game. The Bears went on a 10-2 run to battle back into the game pulling to within a point.  Skylar Mays hit his 2nd straight three pointer with 6:46 left to go, putting the Tigers up, 27-20.  Mays lead the Tigers in scoring in the first half with 10 points. LSU took a 33-27 lead into the locker room at the break. 
      Darius Days started the scoring in the 2nd half hitting a 3 from the arc. From there the Tigers lead the rest of the way. The Bears continued to battle and pulled to within two, 47-45 with seven minutes left in the contest. From there, over the next four minutes, the Tigers went on a 14-2 run to pull away and capture the win.  Emmitt Williams finished with 14 points, while Trendon Watford and Skylar Mays each contributed 12 each.  Keandre Cook (17 points), and Tulio DaSilva (16 points),  lead the Bears in scoring.
      "This was a good win."  said LSU coach Will Wade. "That was the largest margin those guys have been beaten all year. Our turnover number was great, but our defensive rebounding was poor. It was a tremendous floor game for Javonte. Darius has become so consistent for us."
The Bears out-rebounded the Tigers, 35-30.  With the win, LSU is now 5-2. They will be in action again on Dec. 3rd when they host UNO. 

 11/24/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil
​Da Boot Sports!


       JAMAICA: LSU bounced back nicely from their disappointing loss to Utah State with a 96-83 win over Rhode Island Sunday at the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic. Five Tigers finished the game with double-figures. Lead by Emmitt Williams' 27 points, a career high. Darius Days and Trendon Watford each had 16 points. Skylar Mays contributed 14. Javonte Smart finished with 11. The first half was a back and forth contest as neither team took more than a seven point lead. LSU however, went on a 9-0 run late in the half as they ended up taking a 43-39 lead at halftime. 
     The Tigers never lost the lead in the 2nd half as they shot 59% from the floor, as well as  4 of 6 from the 3-point arc in the half.    The Rams (4-2), were lead by Fatts Russell's 26 points and 8 assist. Cyril Langevine scored 16, and Jeff Dowtin finished with 15 points.  LSU finished the contest strong as they dominated in the paint with a 17-6 run, extending the Tiger's lead from 8 to 19 points with just over a minute to go in the game. The Tigers also had a solid game on the boards as they won the rebound battle, 41-28. 
     Our Fighting Tigers (4-2), return home to host Missouri State on Friday, Nov. 29th. 7pm. Get your tickets and fill the PMAC! 

11/22/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil
​Da Boot Sports!


        JAMAICA:Utah State's Sam Merrill made a go ahead 3 pointer with 57 seconds to down LSU, 80-78 at the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic. The Tigers had a solid 1st half, as they started the game with back-to-back 3 pointers by JaVonte Smart and Skylar Mays. Darius Days scored 14 points, (all in the 1st half) as LSU shot 51% from the floor, including 9 of 18 from 3 point arc.    LSU lead 44-30 at the break. Another pleasant surprise in the 1st half was the turnovers, as the Tigers only committed 5. Sadly, they would add 11 more in the 2nd half, along with sloppy play late, that would prove to be costly.  At the 16:32 mark in the 2nd half, LSU increased their lead to 19 points as Skylar Mays hit one of his five 3 pointers of the night. The senior guard lead the team with 30 points, a career high.  From there, the Aggies began to chip away at the lead.  "We played really well. We were prepared," LSU coach Will Wade said. "The turnover bug got us again in the 2nd half. We lost our composure a little bit. You play a team as good as they are, you got to be able to play 40 minutes and we played for about 36."  ....... Alphonso Anderson hit a 3 pointer at the 3:36 mark to tie the game at 74-74. 53 seconds later, Justin Bean scored on a layup and was fouled by Trendon Watford to give the Aggies their first lead of the game. Bean hit his charity shot, extending the lead to three. Skylar Mays answered, scoring on a drive to the basket. Mays then found himself at the foul-line after a steal and fouled by Abel Porter.  He hit both free throws to give the Tigers the lead back at 78-77.  After Merrill's 3 pointer,  LSU had more than one opportunity to tie or take the lead. With 42 seconds left, they missed a shot. Then retained  possession with 13 seconds to go, but turned the ball over to end the contest.  The Tigers fall to 3-2. With the win, Utah State improved to 6-0.  "I thought the VCU game, we probably deserved to lose that. We deserved to win this one." Coach Wade added. "Just disappointing. We let a golden opportunity slip away against a great, great team."   The Tigers, will look to bounce back on Sunday as they take on Rhode Island at 1:30pm.

 11/19/2019
By: Terrill J.Weil
Da Boot Sports!


     BATON ROUGE: Our Tigers improved to 3-1 despite a slow and sloppy start against visiting University of Maryland-Baltimore County. LSU continued to look sluggish as they continue to learn Coach Wade's new motion style offense and themselves. After Javone Smart hit one of his two free throws for a 1-0 lead , the Tigers continued to turn the ball over and miss shots.  The Retrievers took advantage going on a 9-0 run. Darius Days finally banked in LSU's first basket of the night with 12:50 to go in the first half. From that point, the Tigers finally woke up and went on to a 16-8 run tie the game at 17-17, dominating the remaining 10 minutes of the first half, and taking a 39-23 lead into the locker room.   
     The Tigers took total control in the 2nd half, as several players contributed nicely during the victory. Charles Manning Jr. scored a season high 16 points, with two of those coming on a alley-oop dunk from a Skylar Mays toss in the 1st half. Trendon Watford played well in the paint, as he had a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Darius Days showed power taking it to the basket all night as he also double-doubled, with 10 points and 10 rebounds. LSU would go up by as much as 31 points the rest of the way, as Will Wade was able to give his talented newcomers valuable minutes to finish off the 77-50 win in front of 8,783 in attendance in the Maravich Center.  James Bishop played well running the offense for most of the remaining 10 minutes of the contest,  scored 9 points. Senior team leader Skylar Mays and Emmitt Williams also both contributed 9 points each. The Tigers scored 44 points in the paint, outrebounded UMBC 49-31, and cut back on turnovers that has plagued them through out the first 3 contest.  
Next up for LSU is a trip to Jamacia, as they will take on a tough Utah State team, ranked #15,    at 6pm on Friday and then Rhode Island on Sunday at 1:30pm in the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic. The Tigers next home contest will be on Friday, November 29th as they host Missouri State. Get your tickets now and fill the PMAC!

11/16/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil
Da Boot Sports!


       The Tigers (2-1), continue their turnover frenzy play as they downed Nicholls State today in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, 75-65. Skyler Mays lead LSU in scoring with 18 points. Emmitt Williams recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Darius Days had 17 points and 11 boards, both career highs. Freshman Trendon Watford added 17 for the Tigers in a solid outing.  LSU has committed 67 turnovers in their first 3 games. (16) vs. Bowling Green, (26) vs. VCU, (25) vs. Nicholls State. This is a huge problem that Coach Will Wade and the Tigers will need to get cleaned up.       
        Dexter McClanahan lead the Colonels in scoring with 20 points. DeAngelo Hunter added 15 for Nicholls. 
        Up next for #23 LSU is a home contest against Maryland-Baltimore County on Tuesday night. 

11/1/2019
By: Terrill J. Weil
​Da Boot Sports!


                       Despite key losses, Tigers still have talent to be contenders      

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    LSU Basketball finished last season,  28-7 (16-2 SEC), earned the SEC regular season championship, and advancing to the sweet 16, all while dealing with the tragedy of loosing teammate Wayde Sims in a senseless shooting death. As well as a late season suspension of Head Coach Will Wade due to allegations of possible recruiting violations.       
       The Tigers will look to build on the 2018-19 season's success. Will Wade is back for his 3rd season.  First off, Wade has some key roster losses to fill.  Gone are starters, Kavell Bigby-Williams, Naz Reid, and Tremont Waters.  The replacement of Reid should come in a key arrival of five-star freshman, Tredon Watford, who Wade calls "Phenomenal."   JaVonte Smart will step in at point guard to run the offense, after finishing last season with several strong performances.  Senior Guard Skyler Mays returns as the emotional team leader of this group.  He averaged 13.4 ppg, along with 3.3 rebound a game. Marlon Taylor will be a major factor in the Tigers attack as well as Junior college transfer, scoring guard, Charles Manning Jr.   One of the main concerns this season is having the height and size in the front court.  Naz Reid was a force to deal with in the paint, and Kavell Bigby-Williams was a solid rebound machine and a great shot blocker. LSU will depend on Emmitt Williams and Darius Days to pick up where last season's big men left off. 
      The Tigers are still a very talented team, more then capable of repeating last season's success if Will Wade can find the right starting lineup and have quality mintues from the bench.  No doubt the Tigers are a NCAA tournament quality team.  Please come out and fill  the Pete Maravich Assembly Center this season. These talented young men need to feed off of loud, electric, sell out crowds in route to a special season.