Da Boot Sports
12/28/2022
By: Terrill J. Weil


   BATON ROUGE, LA - The Tigers began SEC play on Wednesday night as they hosted 9th ranked Arkansas (11-1) in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center/Dale Brown Court. 
   
   LSU (10-1) has struggled against weaker early season opponents, needing to hang on late to win several of those games. 

   So the Tigers need to reboot the season and raise their level of play if they have any hope of upsetting the highly ranked Razorbacks, and that's exactly what the Bayou Bengals did, as they were strictly business in the final five minutes of play, taking down the Hogs, 60-57.

   With the score even at 49-49 with only 4:27 left in the game, Trae Hannibal took over, scoring six of his team leading 19 points on three huge drives to the basket into the teeth of the Razorbacks defense. 

   LSU not only battled a very good Arkansas team for 40 minutes, they also survived horrible officiating all night long as they had to fight through several phantom calls at key moments of the contest. 

   "The goal was to go 1-0 and for us, we’re such a work in progress that we’re just trying to get better every day in practice and in games. Obviously, the goal is to win while doing it so I hope it’s something we can continue to build on." Matt McMahon said. "There’s a lot of things that went into winning tonight. I thought our defensive effort and ability to defend the paint was much improved. I was really concerned coming in because Arkansas is probably the best team in America in forcing turnovers and then converting those turnovers into points in transition. There were a couple of brutal turnovers late, but we had 10 turnovers and they only scored four points off those turnovers. I believed they were averaging around 25 points off turnovers coming in, so I thought that was really key. Of course, we had huge individual performances such as Trae Hannibal, who was a monster. The first half, we didn’t finish well at the basket while the second half we went 14-for-22 on two pointers. We got to the rim and finished. Derek Fountain had a 14-10 (14 points and 10 rebounds) double-double, but now you’re going down the line. We had great bench play and KJ (Williams), who has been such a great scorer for us. It speaks to his game that he’s just about winning and how unselfish he is. He was the screener on a lot of those downhill drives where Trae (Hannibal), Justice (Hill) and some of our guys got to the basket and finished. A lot of positives to take from it. Obviously, it wasn’t an offensive masterpiece for anybody. Winning is winning and we’ll take it. We’re just really proud of our players.”

   
   Both teams began the game ice cold, missing several shots before the Hogs got on the board first
when Davonte Davis put the ball up and in at the 17:28 mark. 2-0 Razorbacks. 

   KJ Williams answered the Arkansas basket with a three pointer from the top of the key giving the Tigers their first lead, 3-2. 

   The Tigers hit back to back three pointers, one by Adam Miller, the other by Trae Hannibal to take a 13-12 lead with 11:05 left in the first half. 

   Over the next four minutes LSU outscored the Hogs 4-0 to extend their lead to 17-12 at the 7:39 mark. 

   The game remained an evenly played, low scoring contest with both teams playing even, 6-6 over the next four minutes as LSU held onto a 19-18 lead with 2:59 remaining in the half. 

   The Tigers ended the half with a 5-1 run to lead 24-19 at the break.


   The Hogs started the second half scoring five straight to tie the contest, 24-24 at the 18:30 mark as the game picked up where it left off at the end of the first 20 minutes. 

   With 11:41 left on the clock and LSU trailing 34-32, Justice Hill missed three free throws after being fouled while shooting from behind the arc. Arkansas' Jordan Walsh would then hit a three after being left all alone at the top of the key to give the Hogs a 37-32 advantage. 

   Trailing 40-35 at the 9:38 mark, the Tigers brought a roaring Assembly Center crowd of 10,428 to their feet as they went on a 12-4 run to go up 47-44 with 5:51 left in the game. 

   “A couple of things stood out. Number one, I’m proud of our players. I thought that they played with great toughness and effort and sustained it for 40 minutes. They deserve all the credit for gutting out a tough and nasty win here." McMahon said. "The second thing: just walking out of the tunnel and seeing the crowd and atmosphere. The energy in the building on December 28th with a top-10 team in the country on our court was awesome. We’re really thankful to the great Tiger fans who came out tonight and we’re really proud of our players for beating an outstanding basketball team.”

   With the win the Tigers are now 11-1 overall and 1-0 in SEC play.

   Next up LSU will travel to Lexington to take on the Kentucky Wildcats in Rupp Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 3. Tipoff is set for 7:00pm CST and the game will be televised on ESPN. 

Photos Below By: Michael Bacigalupi

*John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Give your life to Jesus)

Da Boot Sports
12/21/2022
By: Jordan Taylor


   BATON ROUGE, LA - LSU played their final mid-season contest against a non SEC opponent and the Tigers would once again find themselves in a dog fight with an East Tennessee ball club that just wouldn't go away.

   LSU never trailed in this contest, but it became an uneasy Pete Maravich Assembly Center when LSU only lead by two points with a little over a minute remaining in the game.

   Tigers would hold on in front of their home crowd of 9,059 by the skin of their teeth with another close victory, 72-68. 

   “Very thankful to get the win. I was thrilled with the improvement we made on the defensive end of the floor in the first half, unfortunately we threw it out the window in the second." Matt McMahon said. "I thought we could’ve had a bigger lead at the half if we had better ball security. Some of the unforced turnovers really hurt us because when we did get a shot, we were really efficient there. Nonetheless, I think everyone’s seen a lot of these scores across the country here going into the Christmas break. Obviously, it was not a thing of beauty but we’re thankful to get the win and wish everybody here in Baton Rouge and across the state of Louisiana ‘Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays’ and look forward to getting back Christmas Day and getting back to work.”



   LSU won the opening tip and surged out to an early 8-0 lead.

   Over the next ten minutes both offenses would cool off and the turnovers started to pile up as you could feel the frustration from the Assembly Center crowd, but the Tigers settled down and finished off a solid first half of play. 

   Justice Hill started the game with a hot hand but it would be the KJ Williams show for the rest of the first 20 minutes as he finished with 17 first half points as LSU took a 37-24 lead into halftime. 

   East Tennessee played with more energy after the break as they outhustled LSU for most of the second half. 

   The Tigers continued the sloppy play, allowing East Tennessee to slowly cut into the lead as Brock Jancek came off the bench to give the Bucs a huge spark, keeping the game within striking distance.

   East Tennessee cut the score to three at the six minute mark before the Buccaneers pulled to within two  with 1:45 remaining.

   LSU went on to survive the Bucs best effort tonight as they squeaked out another close win as the Tigers continue to struggle with consistency.

   KJ Williams lead LSU in scoring with a double-double, scoring 28 points while grabbing
12 rebounds.  Derek Fountain added 11 points with 8 rebounds. Both Miller and Hill finished with nine points each. 

   Major concerns grow as LSU continues to struggle against their early season opponents with SEC play opening up next week.

   The Tigers, now 11-1, have a week off to work on cleaning up the turnovers, sloppy play and their inability to put a team away. Hopefully Matt McMahon can get the team focus on the next part of their season. 

   Up next LSU will host the 10th ranked Arkansas Razorbacks on Wednesday, Dec. 28th to open up SEC play inside Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Tipoff is set for 8:00pm CST.
​

Da Boot Sports
​12/18/2022
By: Terrill J. Weil


   BATON ROUGE, LA - The Tigers improved their record to 10-1 with a 89-81 victory over the Winthrop Eagles in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Saturday night in front of 9,067 fans in attendance.  

   Cam Hayes lead the Bayou Bengals with 25 points while KJ Williams added 18 points and Adam
Miller finished with 14. 

   The Eagle gave the Tigers all they could handle and more throughout the night. LSU held an 80-68 lead with 3:40 left in the contest before Winthrop would go on a 10-2 run to pull to within four, 82-78 with only 1:21 left on the clock. 
   KJ Williams responded, stepping up with a three pointer, then a huge dunk on back to back possession to help LSU clinch the 89-81 win. 

   
   It looked like LSU would dominate the contest as the build an early nine point lead, 14-5 at the 16:13 mark, but the Eagles would go on a 18-5 run over the next four minutes to go up 23-19.

   A Kelton Talford dunk with 43 seconds left in the first half would give Winthrop a 39-38 lead at the break. 

   “I thought it was a great team win. If you enjoy offense, three-point shooting, and a lot of
points, it was a good game to watch." Matt McMahon said. "I think on our offensive end, clearly our most efficient performance there on the season. I was pleased at halftime. I thought the last 8-10 minutes of
the first half we were checking the ball just to make sure it had a lot of air in it, just dribbled
around, the ball didn’t move, lot of hero shots, and led to very inefficient play. But the second
half, I thought we played the game the right way offensively. The ball moved side-to-side, a lot
of great screens, we had 13 assists on our 21 baskets and shot 68-percent from the floor.
Finally, in those last seven minutes, we were able to get one or two stops. There weren’t many
stops in the game, but in those last seven or eight minutes, we were able to get enough to get
the win. Overall, I thought it was a great team win and a fun game to watch.”

   Next up the Tigers will host East Tennessee State in the PMAC on Wednesday, Dec. 21. Tipoff is set for 7:00pm CST.

*John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Give your life to Jesus)

Da Boot Sports
12/13/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: LSU Staff


   ​BATON ROUGE – Derek Fountain and KJ Williams combined for 35 points and 16 rebounds as the LSU Tigers ran their record to 9-1 on the season with a 67-57 win over North Carolina Central University Tuesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Fountain, a junior transfer from Mississippi State, had 17 points, 14 rebounds for his first college double double. He was 6-of-9 from the field, 5-of-9 from the free throw line with 1 assist, 2 blocks and a steal.

KJ Williams, the super senior who came in from Murray State, had 18 points, 12 rebounds in posting his 31st career college double double (fourth of the season), hitting 7-of-13 field goals, including his 100th career three-pointer, to go with 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal.

Cam Hayes also had 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting with two treys to go with seven rebounds before leaving the game late in the second half with what Coach Matt McMahon called “cramps.”

The game had 10 lead changes in the early going as NCCU was shooting well and Fountain, who had a strong start on the boards that led to buckets and free throws, was keeping LSU even.

NCCU tied the game at 23-23 with 6:24 to go before KJ Williams dunked off an Adam Miller pass and then went to the free throw line for three makes after getting fouled on a distance attempt. Then it was Fountain and KJ Williams again that pushed the LSU lead to 32-23 with 3:52 to go in the first half.

The Tigers scored the last six of the half on three-pointers by Hayes and KJ Williams to make the LSU lead, 14, 40-26, at intermission.

The Eagles made a run to cut the game to four, 49-45, with 11:07 to play, but LSU was able to get the lead back to double figures for the 10-point victory.

Justin Wright scored 14 points to lead NCCU, while Brendan Medley-Bacon and Devin Butts had 10 points each. The Eagle shot 43.6 percent for the game (43.6%), making seven threes and 2-of-8 at the free throw line.

The Tigers shot 41.3 percent (26-of-63), but hit just 4-of-25 from the arc. The Tigers finished 11-of-18 at the line.

LSU had a 45-31 advantage in rebounds, including 15-4 on the offensive boards. LSU had a 38-26 advantage in points in the paint and 18-5 on second chance points.

​The Tigers are back in action on Saturday night at 6 p.m. against Winthrop. The game will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network and televised on the SEC Network. Tickets are available at LSUTix.net.
--
The Matt McMahon Show on the LSU Sports Radio Network will be broadcast Wednesday night at 7 p.m. from TJ Ribs on Acadian Thruway. The broadcast will air on Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge.

Da Boot Sports
12/11/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: LSU Staff


   ATLANTA – For the second straight December, Holiday Hoopsgiving was good to LSU at State Farm Arena, as the Tigers’ senior point guard Justice “Juice” Hill drove an open lane and scored with 2.1 seconds left to give LSU a 72-70 comeback win over Wake Forest Saturday afternoon.LSU (8-1) rallied in Atlanta for the second-straight season in the event after having a four-point halftime deficit a year ago to defeat Georgia Tech. Today, LSU came back from a 20-point first-half deficit to completely flip the game, taking a five-point advantage, 58-53, with 11:38 to play.

Wake Forest (7-3) would come back to take a three-point lead as the game entered its final six minutes, 62-59, before the teams swapped leads with Wake Forest tying the game at 70-70 on a free throw with 1:13 to play.

In the final minute with the game tied, LSU missed a layup and Wake Forest missed a top of the key three-pointer. KJ Williams got the rebound and LSU brought the ball up court, calling timeout with 15 seconds to play.

Hill took the inbounds, dribbled around, faked to his left taking his defender out of the play, spun back and drove almost uncontested for the winning points with 2.1 seconds to play and a 72-70 lead.

Wake Forest, having to go the length of the floor, elected to go for the long pass to the other end where Derek Fountain came up with the steal to end the game and send the Tigers back to Baton Rouge happy.

Highlighting the Tigers effort was an impressive 35-point performance by fifth-year senior KJ Williams. Williams, who recorded the second 30-point game of the season for LSU, and his second highest collegiate scoring game, hit 14-of-21 field goals, including an impressive 7-of-9 from the arc. Williams also had 10 rebounds giving him his 30th career college double double.

“(KJ) was fantastic,” said Coach Matt McMahon on his LSU Sports Radio Network postgame interview. “We wanted to try to space the floor and use KJ out on the perimeter as a weapon. he stepped up and delivered. You are talking about a guy that has scored almost 2,000 points in college. We expect big things from him and he was first class today.”

Cam Hayes off the bench had 13 points, six assists and no turnovers, while Derek Fountain, who got his first LSU start on Saturday, had 11 points. Hill’s winning points were just his fourth of the game, but he finished with six assists and no turnovers.

Justice Williams, who had been out for the past five games after an ankle injury, returned to play Saturday and played 17 minutes, posting five assists and two assists.

LSU for the first time all season was in single digits in turnovers with just seven and grabbed 21 points off the 15 Wake Forest turnovers.

The Demon Deacons looked like they were going to have their way with things in the early going of the contest after LSU jumped out to a 5-0 lead and 8-3 in the first three minutes.

Over the next four minutes, Wake Forest, which shot over 60 percent for over half of the opening 20 minutes, scored 17 straight points and pushed a lead out to 20-8. An 8-0 run later on would make the lead 30-12, and eventually, 39-19, with 4:16 to go in the opening half.

However, the Tigers were far from rolling over. LSU would go on to score the next 11 points to get the lead down to nine at 39-30 and went into the dressing room trailing by just eight, 41-33.

“That was an awesome win. I’m supposed to sit here and give you some coach speak, but wow that was awesome,” said Coach McMahon. “I’m so proud of our guys. We kept talking in the huddle there, down 20, seemed like we might not even have a pulse today, just stay positive and try to find a way to chip away at this deal. There are no 20-point shots out there, we needed to get locked in and play better defense. Offensively, I thought we had some good opportunities at the rim in the first half that we just didn’t finish. We shot well from three, but atrocious from two. Then obviously the performance from KJ Williams. There were other guys that were fantastic today with their effort and energy. Those are things that are more important to me than X’s and O’s.”

LSU fell behind again by 11, 47-36, with 18:24 to go in the game but the Tigers pushed again and KJ Williams went two-point, three-point, three-point makes to cut the lead to three, 47-44, before Hayes hit a three off a KJ Williams pass to tie the game at 47-47 with 16:40 to play.
In the second half from that point there were five ties and seven lead changes as the teams battled it out down the stretch.

Wake Forest star Tyree Appleby had a good game with 26 points on 11-of-13 shooting with two treys and Matthew Marsh had 13 points and 11 rebounds. Cameron Hildreth had 12 points. The Demon Deacons out rebounded LSU, 37-30.

Wake Forest shot 50.9 percent (28-of-55) from the field, but just 5-of-24 from the arc (20.8%). LSU shot 43.8 percent (28-of-54), but had a season high 10 three pointers (10-of-26, 38.5%). The Tigers did not have a good day at the free throw line, making just 6-of-15 at the stripe.

“We are still learning about our team. Everyone is new. Rotations and all that will evolve as we go,” said Coach McMahon. “Today, Cam Hayes and Derek Fountain just incredible in their effort. I thought Justice Williams was just so solid for us. We had more playmakers on the floor. They got the ball where it needed to go.”

The Tigers return to the Maravich Center for two games this week against NC Central on Tuesday and Winthrop on Dec. 17. Both games will have an earlier start time of 6 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and the SEC Network. Tickets are available online at LSUTix.net and at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office during normal business hours on Monday and Tuesday.

Da Boot Sports
​12/2/2022
LSU Sports Communications
By: LSU Staff


   BATON ROUGE – For the second straight game when it came winning time, the LSU Tigers responded and walked away with a 63-59 decision over UT Arlington Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.LSU is now 7-1 on the season entering the final exam break which begins on Monday on the LSU campus. UT Arlington is now 4-5 on the year.

The Tigers, who led by nine on two occasions (the last with 13 minutes to play), would allow the Mavericks to come back and take a 52-48 lead on a Marion Humphrey bucket with 6:49 to go in the game.
But like Sunday when LSU rallied from five down in the final 4:30 of the win over Wofford, the Tigers began to rally and took the lead back.

KJ Williams took a pass from Trae Hannibal at the top of the key and scored a trey to cut the UTA lead to 52-51. Hannibal would make one free throw to tie the game at 52-52 with 4:30 to play. The teams exchanged buckets (with Hannibal getting the bucket) to lead the game tied at 54 with 3:51 to play.
Hannibal missed a shot the next time down after a UTA turnover, but he got his own rebound and was fouled to give LSU the lead for good at 56-54.

The Murray State transfer blocked a three-point attempt on the other end and Derek Fountain took advantage of an offensive board on the LSU end to make it 58-54 and after another Maverick miss, Hannibal found Adam Miller for a dagger three that made it 61-54. A free throw made it 62-54 with 39 seconds to play.
That completed a 14-2 run and a 15-9 final run over the last 6:49 to finish the game.

Williams led LSU with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Adam Miller added 11. For UTA, Marion Humphrey had 15. Brandon Walker added 10.

LSU out rebounded the Mavericks, 40-36 but UTA had 34 points in the paint to 20 for LSU, while the Tigers were able to et 11 points off the nine UTA turnovers, while UTA had just seven against the 13 LSU turnovers. The Mavericks had a 20-10 advantage in second chance points.

LSU shot 41.2 percent for the game (21-of-51) with seven treys, while UT Arlington made 24-of-64 (37.5%) with five treys.

​The Tigers return to action after finals on Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Holiday Hoopsgiving event in Atlanta. LSU will take on Wake Forest in a 1 p.m. CT game. The Tigers will next play in the Maravich Center on Dec. 13.