Da Boot Sports
12/30/2021 By: Terrill J. Weil AUBURN, AL: LSU has started games slowly all season long but have been able to recover to win in convincing fashion against nonconference opponents... Welcome to SEC play on the road. The Tigers started slow at Auburn and never could settled down enough to recover, failing to match Auburn's intensity throughout the game, falling 70-55 for their first loss of the season. Bruce Pearl mentioned earlier in the week that he was concerned about LSU's suffocating defense, but it was his team's defensive pressure that made the difference in the contest, forcing the Tigers into several key turnovers and sloppy offensive play. LSU would go 0-16 from the floor over the first ten and a half minutes of the contest. As poorly as the Tigers played, they managed to battle back into the contest, before foul trouble began to cripple their already struggling offensive attack. LSU finished the game shooting a dismal 18-63 from the floor for an embarrassing 29%. The Tigers also hurt themselves turning the ball over 17 times, while Auburn outrebounded LSU, 43-37. Xavier Pinson led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points. Darius Days and Tari Eason both finished the contest with 11 points each. Jabari Smith Jr. finished with 16 points, but it was Walker Kessler who hurt the Tigers under the basket, scoring 16 points, grabbing nine rebounds, while blocking eleven shots. With the loss LSU is now 12-1 overall, 0-1 in SEC play.... “We played our hearts out,” Will Wade said. “We just didn’t play with the discipline and the smarts we needed. I know people will be upset and jumping off the ledges and stuff like that. I still feel great about this team. We got great people. We got great chemistry. We're built on a rock-solid foundation. We're good. We've got great character, and nothing changed about this team.” LSU controlled the opening tip but only managed a point as Eric Gaines would hit one of two free throws giving the Bayou Bengals an early 1-0 lead. Auburn answered with a 18-0 run over the next 10 minutes of the first half as LSU began the contest ice cold, missing their first 16 shots of the contest. The Tigers finally scored their first basket of the game when Tari Eason took the ball coast to coast, laying it in and drawing the foul. Eason would hit the free throw to pull the Tigers to within 18-4 at the 9:14 mark. From that point, LSU finally seemed to settle down as they outscored Auburn 14-6 over the next six minutes to cut the Auburn lead to 24-18 with 3:29 left in the half. Auburn would lead 32-21 at the half after retaking control of the game outscoring LSU 8-4 during the final three minutes of the half. Auburn would start the second half scoring four straight to build their lead to 15 points, 36-21 as LSU once again find themselves struggling on offense. After trailing by as much as 17 points in the half, LSU would fight back to cut the lead to single digits, 43-34 with 13:21 left on the clock. With 7:51 left on the clock, Justice Williams hit a three pointer to pull LSU to within six points, 48-42. But a couple of turnovers later, Auburn would extend their lead back to 11,... 55-44. LSU would once again cut the lead to nine points with 4:20 left on the clock, but Auburn would again answer, scoring five straight to grab a 62-48 lead with 3:24 left. The Tigers simply couldn't muster anything else on offense as Auburn's defensive pressure completely kept LSU out of sync for the rest of the contest. “This is what life's like on the road and the SEC, this is how it is,” Wade added. “We got to learn from it, we got to grow from it." It doesn't get any easier for the Tigers as next up they will host #18 Kentucky in the PMAC on Tuesday, Jan. 4th at 6:00pm
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Da Boot Sports 12/29/2021 By: Terrill J. Weil Baton Rouge, LA: Will Wade and his 12-0, 16th ranked LSU Fighting Tigers will begin SEC play on Wednesday afternoon as they travel to Auburn to take on the Tigers. Bruce Pearl and his 11-1 Auburn squad, ranked 11th, are playing at a high level, winners of eight straight, and have yet to lose a game at home this season. Defensively, LSU will need to slow down true freshman Jabari Smith Jr., who is the son of former LSU basketball player Jabari Smith Sr. The 6'-10" Smith has been tough to stop, averaging 16.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Allen Flanigan has also returned for the Tigers. The 6-foot-6 junior has recovered from a torn Achilles that happened in the offseason. Flanigan averaged 14.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last season. Pearl has also added McDonald's All-American Walker Kessler, a 7'-1" center transfer from North Carolina who has made his presence felt under the basket for the Tigers. The big guy is averaging 9.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. The Bayou Bengals will need to continue to play suffocating defense and their ferocious full court press to force Auburn into committing key turnovers. LSU must also win the rebound battle and stay out of foul trouble if they hope to escape from the Plains with a victory. Offensively, LSU loves to take the ball to the goal. Unfortunately, this is Auburn's strength defensively. Expect Smith and Kessler to try and make things tough for the Bayou Bengals in the paint, forcing LSU to beat them from the outside. If that ends up being the case, the Tigers will need a huge night from Darius Days from behind the three point arc. The Tigers are led by Darius Days who averages 15 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. LSU is hoping that Tari Eason can return Wednesday after missing the contest against Lipscomb with back spasms He averages 14.9 PPG and will need to play big on both ends of the court. Efton Reid will also have his work cut out for him, having to battle Kessler under the goal all night. What a great way to open the SEC schedule. Auburn is a four point favorite at home, as both teams will face their toughest challenge of the season. Both squads are loaded with talent. Both teams are well coached, and both are hot. Many feel these may be the best two teams in the SEC right now. Expect this one to go down to the wire, with the team protecting the ball and making their free throws late taking the win. PREDICTION: LSU 72, Auburn 67 Da Boot Sports 12/23/2021 By: Terrill J. Weil BATON ROUGE, LA: The 17th ranked LSU Fighting Tigers improved their record to 12-0 as they defeated the Lipscomb Bison, 95-60 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Wednesday night. The blowout victory was an impressive total team effort. Once again, it was the relentless man-to-man defense and full court press that set the tone of the ball game. The pressure forced the Bison into 22 turnovers that led to 30 points for the Tigers. It was also nice to see LSU start a game fast and shoot right at 50% from the floor the entire night. The Tigers finished shooting 40-75 for 53% and a nice 12-22 from behind the three point arc for 55%. LSU also controlled the boards on both ends of the court, outrebounding Lipscomb, 44-28. Darius Days led the team in scoring with 21 points on the night. Xavier Pinson continued to play well scoring 17. Brandon Murray and Eric Gaines both contributed 13 points each as they were both sparks off the bench. Efton Reid finished with 12 points as he was a force under the basket. Mwani Wilkinson added 11 points, while Alex Fudge added 8 in the contest. The Tigers controlled the opening tip and wasted little time grabbing the lead going up 5-0 during the first 60 seconds of the game. LSU would then go on a 13-5 run over the next four minutes to lead 18-5 at the 15:04 mark as Lipscomb struggled against the Tigers full court press, turning the ball over five times early in the contest. The Bison answered with an 8-0 run as LSU's offense would go ice cold, cutting the Tigers' lead to 18-13 with 10:23 to go in the half. Leading 32-22 at the 5:23 mark, LSU would score five straight on a three pointer by Xavier Pinson and a layup by Brandon Murray to extend the lead to 37-22. Darius Days increased the Tigers' advantage to 18 points, hitting a three pointer with 3:38 left. 40-22, LSU... The Tigers were hot again and began to pull away from the Bison, finishing the first half with an 8-2 run as they would take a 48-24 lead into the locker room at the half. LSU had a solid first half offensively, shooting 19-40 from the floor for 48%, while shooting 50% from three point land, going 8-16. Darius Days led the team with 12 points at the half, while Brandon Murray and Xavier Pinson added 8 points each. Efton Reid and Mwani Wilkinson each contributed 7 points in the first 20 minutes of play. Defensively LSU forced the Bison into ten first half turnovers, while outrebounding them 25-17. LSU began the second half playing with intensity on both ends of the floor, going on a 14-7 run over the first four minutes to take a 62-31 advantage over the Bison. The Tigers continued to play a suffocating man to man defense, causing Lipscomb to take poor shots and turn the ball over as LSU would go on to build a 34 point lead, 75-41 at the 9:52 mark. With 5:34 left in the contest, and the Tigers up 84-49, Will Wade began to pull his starters and empty the bench for some mop up time and q aaa. At the 3:35 mark, Efton Reid would sink a three pointer to put the Tigers up by 40 points, 91-51. The bench players flexed their muscles to finish off the final three minutes of the contest. FINAL: LSU 95, Lipscomb 60 **Will Wade's Press Conference Opening Statement: “Alright, what do we want to talk about? We won, we’re 12-0, we’ve got to get a lot better heading into the SEC. We turned it over 10 times in the second half, gave up nine points and three three’s in the last four minutes to get to 60 points. I liked the way we moved the ball – six guys in double figures, would’ve been seven with (Alex) Fudge, he was right there. That was a positive. Twenty assists, that was a positive.” **On what Coach will tell players to expect going into the hostile Auburn environment… “We just talked about that for 10 minutes in the locker room. We’re going to have to be much better than we’ve been to go into Auburn and give ourselves an opportunity to win.” Next up the Tigers will begin SEC play as they travel to Auburn on Wednesday, Dec. 29th at 6:00pm. The game will be televised on SEC Network.... Photos Below By: Michael Bacigalupi Da Boot Sports 12/19/2021 LSU Sports Information By: LSU Staff BOSSIER CITY, Louisiana – Tari Eason scored 10 straight late points and Darius Days had a career-high 18 rebounds as the LSU Tigers rallied from 13 points down in the first half to win 66-57 over Louisiana Tech in the Battle of Bossier City Saturday night at the Brookshire Grocery Arena. LSU, ranked 19/20 in the national polls, goes to 11-0 on the season while Louisiana Tech falls to 8-3. Eason finished with 21 points with eight boards on 8-of-15 shooting while Days had his 19th career double double with 13 points and the 18 boards, also moving past the 1,000-career points mark. Xavier Pinson added 10 points. LSU after a show first half shot 52 percent in the second half, making 13-of-25 from the field with four treys. Louisiana Tech shot just 25.9 percent in the second half and made just two three-pointers. Tech was led by Kenneth Lofton Jr., and Amorie Archibald with 13 points each while Exavian Christon had 11 points. Louisiana Tech scored the first 11 points of the game and that’s where the game stayed for much of the first half of play. The Bulldogs put an 18-5 advantage as LSU hit just 2-of-10 shots. LSU was able to get the game to six at 23-17 but the Tigers trailed 35-27 at the break. Days got his 1,000 points on his first bucket of the game at the 9:35 mark and at halftime he had seven points and 10 rebounds. Tech was 12-of-28 from the floor in the first half, while LSU was just 10-of-34 for 29 percent. Tech made 5 first half threes compared to 2 for LSU. The Tigers like they did against Georgia Tech one Saturday ago, came out again pressing the pace and a 14-3 run gave LSU a 41-38 lead for the first time at the 16:02 mark. From there the game seesawed back and forth and entering the final 5:51, the Tigers tied the game at 55-55 on a Pinson bucket. In those final minutes, LSU outscored LA Tech 11-2, 10 of which came from Tari Eason. The sophomore hit an in-rhythm three, converted an and-1, and put the game away with an emphatic late dunk clinching the win. After the game, Eason said, “My momma always said, ‘Big-time players step up in big-time moments during big-time games.’ It’s all about being level-headed, the next play is your best play, I’m trying to do whatever I can do to help the team win, so I did what needed to be done tonight.” LSU got 19 points off 16 Bulldog turnovers and had a 26-22 advantage in points in the paint. LSU closes out the pre-Christmas schedule on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Lipscomb. Head Coach Will Wade: “Great game. I thought Louisiana Tech played tremendously. They did a great job shrinking the floor in the first half. They made our driving angles very tough. They made life difficult on Efton Reid. I thought Tari [Eason] and [Darius] Days were tremendous. Days had 18 rebounds. The offensive glass kept us alive in the first half. I thought Eric Gaines played a great floor game, he played maybe one of his best games at LSU. Tremendous atmosphere, LA Tech is a tremendous ballclub. The fans looked even split, maybe we had a few more, but it was a great atmosphere. It was good for basketball in this state that we come up here and 6,500 people to watch two teams play on a neutral court. I thought it was a great afternoon of basketball and excited to get a win.” Da Boot Sports 12/15/2021 By: Terrill J. Weil BATON ROUGE, LA: The #19 LSU Tigers continued to roll, improving their record to 10-0 with a 89-49 victory over the Northwestern State Demons on Tuesday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Tari Eason again led the team in scoring with 18 points. Xavier Pinson scored 15 points on the night, while Efton Reid put up a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Darius Days added 13 points on the night. Brandon Murray scored 9, while Eric Gaines and Alex Fudge each contributed 8 points in the contest. Defensively, LSU set the tone of the ball game, frustrating Northwestern State all night long with relentless man to man pressure, forcing 17 turnovers that would be converted into 17 points. LSU also outrebounded the Demons, 53-39. LSU's 10-0 start is the team's best start in 22 years, back when they started 13-0 in 1999. That season, the John Brady led Tigers finished 28-6 overall (12-4 SEC), won the SEC West and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. LSU would score first after controlling the opening tip, as Efton Reid's layup put the Tigers ahead 2-0. At the 16:25 mark, we found the contest knotted up 6-6 as LSU found themselves starting slow and shaky as usual, allowing Northwestern State to keep pace. Over the next four minutes, LSU would go on a 10-3 run, taking a 16-9 lead with 12:13 on the clock, before really starting to settle into a nice groove. The LSU defensive pressure began to heat up and would hold the Demons to only two points over the next five minutes of play as the Tigers increased their lead to 15 points, 26-11 with 7:37 to go in the first half. At the five minute mark, LSU had built a 36-15 advantage as the shots were falling for the Tigers and the defensive pressure remained relentless. The Tigers simply suffocated the Demons in the final five minutes of the first half, outscoring them 5-0, to take a 41-15 lead into the locker room at the half. LSU's defense held the Demons shooting to only 6-31 from the floor for 19% and 2-12 from behind the three point arc for 17%. Northwestern State also committed nine turnovers in the first half and was out rebounded by the Tigers, 24-21. The Tigers started slow, but the shot began to fall halfway through the half as the Tigers shot 18-37 from the floor for 49%, while going 4-11 three pointers for 36%. Xavier Pinson led the Tigers in scoring at the half with 13 points, while Brandon Murray and Eric Gaines added 6 points each. Darius Days and Tari Eason each finished with 5 points in the first 20 minutes. The Tigers remained hot to start the second half going on a 10-5 run during the first three minutes, building their lead to 51-20. At the 12 minute mark, the Tigers had increased their advantage to 36 points, now leading 63-27. LSU continued to pour it on the Demons taking a 40 point lead with 8:17 to go in the contest, 73-33. From this point, Will Wade began to send bench players in to finish off the game. The relentless Bayou Bengals would hold a 83-45 lead with five minutes left on the clock, when Parker Edwards entered the game, bringing a roar from the student section. Fudge, Gaines, Ezewiro, Colbert, and Edwards would finish off the final 3:36 to clinch win number ten on the season. “Well, we won, so that was good. (Xavier) Pinson got his 1,000th point of his career, congrats to him. I think (Darius) Days is two away from 1,000 himself. If he doesn’t get it on Saturday, then we’re in real trouble, so we hope he gets it." Will Wade said. "We did a better job limiting our turnovers with only 10 in this game, which is the first time in a long time that we limited our turnovers to our game goal. We had eight going into those last four or five minutes, so that was good. Our defensive rebounding still leaves a lot to be desired. We gave up 13 offensive rebounds, with No. 22 (Cedric Garrett) and No. 4 (Kendal Coleman) whipping our tails on the offensive glass. That’s got to get cleaned up and we’ve got to get more physical and drive guys back. They had 16 second-chance points off the 13 offensive rebounds; teams are going start to tee off on that if we can’t get that corrected. Our transition defense was improved. They had a very good attack against our press, and I thought they were well prepared for our pressure, so give them credit. Coleman’s a really good player and made for a great specialist. He was 16-of-24 on mid-range jump shots coming into tonight and he hit a few on us as well. It’s a win, we’ll take, and we’ll get a bigger challenge on Saturday.” **Wade on Xavier Pinson’s performance… “He played great. They’d try to go under the ball screens, but he’d hit three-points behind them, which was huge. He was able to get downhill and drive. That pass he had to (Tari) Eason in the first half was as good of a pass as you’ll see. X is such a good player and a calming influence for us as well. It may be his best game this year, in terms of complete flow of the game.” Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Bossier City to take on Louisiana Tech on Dec. 18th. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm Photos Below By: Michael Bacigalupi Da Boot Sports 12/12/2021 By: Terrill J. Weil ATLANTA, GA: The Tigers traveled to Atlanta, Georgia looking to stay undefeated on the season and that they did. The Bayou Bengals used a strong second half performance to defeat Georgia Tech, 69-53 to improve to 9-0 on Saturday evening. Tari Eason had a monster game for the Tigers as he finished with 23 points on the night to lead the team. Xavier Pinson continued his strong play adding 13 points. Brandon Murray contributed 10 points, while Eric Gaines continued to come off the bench to help spark the LSU offense as he finished with 8 points. As usual, LSU started the contest slow and sluggish, shooting a dismal 9-30 from the floor for 30% in the first half. It was a very sloppy played opening 20 minutes, as LSU turned the ball over 12 times while forcing Georgia Tech into 17 turnovers. The Yellow Jackets led the entire first half, leading by as much as 15 points at the 6:50 mark. The Tigers however would battle back over the final three minutes, finishing the half with an 8-0 run to pull to within four at the break, 34-30. LSU scored the first six points of the second half to take their first lead of the contest, 36-34 less than two minutes in and never trailed again. The Tigers would shoot much better from the floor in the final 20 minutes, but it was suffocating defense, forcing Tech into 24 turnovers that LSU would score 33 points off of,... dominating the boards, as the Tigers outrebounded the Yellow Jackets, 41-29, and making 18-24 free throws for 75% that led LSU to victory. With 5:52 left in the game, the Tigers grabbed a 10 point lead, 56-46 and then finished the contest on a dominating 13-7 run to win 69-53. Next LSU will return home on Tuesday, Dec. 14 to host Northwestern State at 6:00pm..... Da Boot Sports 12/2/2021 By: Terrill J. Weil BATON ROUGE, LA: Will Wade's Tigers returned home after a successful road trip, winning the Emerald Classic in Florida to host the Ohio Bobcats in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Wednesday night. LSU improved to 8-0 on the season as they defeated a well coached, hard playing Ohio squad, 66-51 in front of 11,328 excited fans. It was also the largest student crowd of the season with 2,278 in attendance. The Tigers started fast, taking a 14-2 lead eight minutes into the game and led by as much as 18 points before Ohio would battle back late in the first half and early in the second to tie the contest at 37-37. From that point, LSU finally began to pull away from the pesky Bobcats for the victory. Tai Eason would come off the bench to help ignite the Tigers in the second half, leading the team with 20 points on the night, while Darius Days finished with his second double-double of the year, the 18th of his career, scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Mwani Wilkinson and Efton Reid both finished with 8 points each, while Eric Gaines contributed 7 points. All season long the Tigers have started slow before picking up steam to pull away from their opponents, but on Wednesday night LSU started fast with hot shooting and suffocating defense. LSU controlled the opening tip and scored quickly on a jumper from inside the paint by Efton Reid. Reid's basket would start a 14-0 run over the first eight minutes of the contest, as Ohio struggled offensively against a tough LSU man to man defense. The Bobcats would finally get on the board at the 11:24 mark when Jason Carter scored on a second chance layup, cutting the Tigers lead to 14-2. The Tigers continued their aggressive first half play as they would go on a 7-1 run over the next three minutes to take a 18 point lead, 21-3 with 9:25 to go in the half. Ohio refused to fold early and began to chip away at the LSU lead. Trailing 29-11 with 5:05 left on the clock, the Bobcats heated up from behind the three point arc, as they would hit three straight to go on a quick 9-0 run, cutting LSU's lead to 29-20. LSU responded with a nice 5-2 run to finish off the first half to take a 34-22 lead at the break. The second half would begin with Ohio playing with much more energy and remaining hot as a pistol from behind the three point arc. The Bobcats, who trailed by 18 points at one point in the contest, battled back over the first six minutes of the second half to tie the game at 37-37. LSU found themselves outscored 15-3 at the 14:07 mark, as both teams hit nothing but three pointers so far in the half. What looked like a potential LSU blowout in the first half, had now became a new ball game. Over the next six minutes both teams struggled with sloppy offensive play, but LSU managed to outscore Ohio 10-2 to build a 47-39 advantage with 8:38 left in the game. With five minutes left in the contest, Efton Reid would battle to score on back to back trips down the floor to put LSU up 53-44, before Tari Eason would add a basket, and a free throw after being fouled. Eason found himself at the charity strip again on the next possession, hitting both shots to extend the Tigers lead to 58-44 with 3:29 left. The Tigers began to pull away with under two minutes remaining as Ohio once again would fall victim to LSU's tenacious defense. “Tremendous crowd, I thought the students were awesome. I think we set the student record tonight for the year, we had almost 2,500, 2,300 or so." Wade said. "We had over 11,000 here. I thought the crowd was great. We got off to a good start. I thought the first ten minutes we were the aggressor, played really hard. I thought the second ten minutes of the first half we were kind of on our heels, to start the second half we were on our heels. Then, we were able to turn it and certainly close the game out. I thought our defense was really solid, I thought we did a nice job defensively. We’ve got a lot of work to do on offense.” The Tigers will take a short Holiday break to study for and take exams before returning to play on Dec. 11th against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Photos Below By: Michael Bacigalupi |
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