Da Boot Sports
12/29/2023
LSU Sports Communications
By: LSU Staff


   BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers took control of the final non-conference game of the year just past the seven-minute mark of the first half and went on to a dominating 96-55 win over Northwestern State Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

   The Tigers finish the non-conference schedule 8-5 and will begin conference play on Saturday, Jan. 6, at Bryan-College Station against the Texas A&M Aggies.

   Northwestern State drops to 2-11.

   The Tigers, after starting 4-of-11 from the field in the first 8:03 of the game, made 10-of-their-next 12 shots, including 3-of-4 from distance as they used a 16-2 run to go up 39-20 with four minutes to go in the first half.

​   LSU finished the half making 13-of-17 to shoot 17-of-28 for the opening 20 minutes (60.7%) and 5-of-10 from three-point range in building a 47-21 halftime advantage.

   LSU would shoot 61.3 percent in the second half (19-of-31) and 6-of-11 from distance outscoring the Demons, 49-34, in the final 20 minutes. LSU’s biggest lead was 45 points, 88-43, with 4:27 to play in the game.
The Tigers finished the contest making 36-of-59 field goal attempts for 61.0 percent. It marked the first time LSU had shot 60 percent from the floor since Feb. 10, 2021 when LSU shot 61.3 percent (38-62) at Mississippi State.

   In all, six Tigers were in double figures led by Mike Williams III who is 21 minutes off the bench hit six three-pointers (6-of-9) in a 20-point performance. Will Baker pushed past 1,000 career points for his playing time at Texas-Nevada-LSU with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Jalen Cook had 13 points and five assists, while Hunter Dean had his first LSU double double with 11 points and 10 boards. Dean was a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor.

   Rounding out the Tigers scoring was Derek Fountain with his fifth career double double of 10 points and 10 rebounds and Jordan Wright stretched his double figure scoring streak to 10 with 10 points.

   LSU had 22 assists on 36 made buckets and was 11-of-21 from distance (52.4 percent). The Tigers recorded 17 steals off 20 Northwestern State turnovers, leading to a 29-8 advantage in points off turnovers.

   The Tigers for the second straight game were close to single digit turnovers but a late couple of miscues put the Tigers at 11 by game’s end.

​   LSU had a 38-31 rebound lead and had 50 points in the paint.

   Northwestern State was led by Chase Forte and Jimel Lane with nine points apiece. The Demons shot 21-of-59 for the game (35.6%) and made 5-of-21 three-point attempts.

   While LSU will open SEC play on the road, the first conference home game will be on Tuesday, Jan. 9, at 8 p.m. against Vanderbilt. Tickets are on sale at LSUTix.net.

​   POST GAME QUOTES
LSU COACH MATT MCMAHON
Opening Statement…
“Good way to come back from Christmas break. I thought our guys came back and prepared the right way. We had one of the better practices I have been a part of the day after Christmas, and I believe that set the tone for the week. We had a slow start in the first half, but when Mike Williams, Trey Hannibal, and Hunter Dean came into the game, the defensive energy picked up, and everyone else sustained that for the rest of the half. There were some outstanding individual performances, but overall, I am excited about the win and look forward to starting preparation for SEC play. From an availability standpoint, Jalen Reed has been out with the flu, Tyrell Ward has been out with an illness, Mwani Wilkinson has been out with a hip injury that has been bothering him for the last two weeks, and I am hoping to have those guys back in practice starting Sunday.”
On the impact Hunter Dean gives off the bench…
“He’s fantastic, which was displayed in his double-double tonight. Also, he’s a lot more athletic than people think; he plays above the rim, moves well, and has elite basketball intelligence. With his ability to see the game, process what’s going on offensively and defensively, and fix many of our mistakes on both sides of the floor, he can free our guys up for open shots very well.”
On this team’s potential…
“I think we have made great progress in the last two and a half games, starting with the second half against Texas. Our assist-to-turnover ratio has been a major problem for us all season long, and there has been a lot of improvement in that area over the past two and a half games. As the competition level rises next week, it needs to continue to be an area of improvement for us. Our three-point defense had been really poor through the first 11 games, but improvements have been made. Our defensive rebounding has been atrocious early in the season and we have also been making improvements there. I believe our guys played great tonight, and I believe they competed well on the defensive end and displayed great unselfishness on the offensive end of the floor.”
--

​   Northwestern State Coach Rick Cabrera
Opening Statement…
“There weren’t many positives in this game. I love my guys and will never give up on them, but I am disappointed as we have to find better results throughout the season than we saw tonight. However, a great thing about basketball is we have another game. There are 18 more games and a conference tournament. So, we will pull our bootstraps up and get better.”
On some improvements you can make with the current team…
“We have to find better ways to score the basketball consistently. So, I have to find ways to help our guys get into the positions they need to show their talent. But that is also a credit to Matt McMahon and his team. They guarded their tails off and made our guys work for every basket we scored. They forced a lot of turnovers and played extremely hard. I think they played like this was the last game they would ever play, whereas our guys played like we had 18 more games in the season. So, I have to instill that same mentality into my guys as every game isn’t guaranteed, and we need to work hard every game.”

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." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior)

​*John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Da Boot Sports
12/21/2023
LSU Sports Communications
By: LSU Staff


   BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers played a stellar 20 minutes to open the contest Thursday night and scored a convincing 87-66 win over Lamar at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

   The Tigers scored 45 first half points, forced 15 turnovers, had 10 assists and just four turnovers, grabbed 10 steals and posted a 16-0 advantage in points off turnovers in the opening 20 minutes to get a 45-26 halftime lead.

   LSU is now 7-5 on the year, while Lamar fell to 5-7.

   For the game, Jalen Cook, in his second game back at LSU and his first game on the home court, led the Tigers with 17 points and had five rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes. Carlos Stewart had one of his best efforts as a Tiger with 16 points with four treys and three assists. Jordan Wright had his ninth consecutive double figure game with 15 points and four steals and Will Baker got back in the double figure column with 12 points and eight rebounds.

   Lamar was led by Ja’Sean Jackson with 14 points, while Terry Anderson and Jakevion Buckley each had 12 points and Chris Pryor scored 10 points.

​   For the game, LSU shot 43.1 percent (31-of-72) from the field with nine makes treys. Lamar was 26-of-60 from the field for 43.3 percent with six made threes.

   LSU out rebounded the Cardinals, 44-38, and had 44 points in the paint.

   LSU quickly took advantage of four consecutive Lamar turnovers to get a 13-4 advantage with 14:11 to go in the first half and pushed the advantage to 13 points at 25-12 with 9:36 left in the opening 20 minutes.

   When the Tigers were scoring it was on fast breaks and efficient offensive possessions the lead increased as a 13-0 run pushed the margin to 41-20 in the final minutes of the first half.

​   LSU led by as much as 30 points with 10:52 to go in the contest.

The Tiger basketball team will be off for the Christmas break until mid-afternoon on Dec. 26 when practice will resume in preparation for the final non-conference game, Dec. 29, against Northwestern State in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
--
POST GAME QUOTES

​LSU Coach Matt McMahon
Opening Statement…
“Loved our energy and effort on the defensive side of the ball tonight. I thought our guys really came out locked in and played with a lot of intensity on that end of the floor. We forced 15 turnovers in the first half and had 10 steals, I just thought our overall effort there was terrific. It really brought a tear to my eye seeing 18 assists and only 11 turnovers. To be positive there, I know we got sloppy there at the end of the game, but overall, a good win for us. A good way to go into the break.”

On what contributed to the victory…
“We missed a lot of open threes, I thought we moved the ball and got the shots that we wanted to. We knew that was how they played. They do a good job swarming to the basketball on drives to take away a lot of your shots around the rim, so it led to open threes, obviously would have liked to shoot a higher percentage. A stat that has really hurt us early in this year is points off turnovers, it’s been a very negative stat for us and at halftime it was 15-to-0 in our favor, so not having the self-inflicted wounds on our offensive end and then on our defensive end, being able to some tempo and some mismatches. I thought the other key there was against the press in the first half, Jordan Wright and Jalen Reed on a couple of occasions did a good job of throwing over the top of the press and it and it led to some easy transition baskets as well.”
--

​   Lamar Coach Alvin Brooks
On the turnovers and how LSU took advantage of them…
“I think LSU did a good job. They are well coached and had their kids prepared. We pressured the basketball to control the pace of the game. In this case we wanted to slow them down and control the pace. We had 15 turnovers in the first half and that changed the momentum of the game. It kept us on our heels since we were playing behind the entire night. It’s hard to play with anyone when you turn the ball over that much. We shot a good percentage when we were able to take a good shot. It hurt us defensively because we were scrambling the whole time. We allowed too many live ball turnovers.”

On the adjustments for the second half…
“Well, our group never quits and we played hard, we did that until the very end. I thought the last 17 minutes, in that stretch we had two turnovers, so we played well down the stretch. We dug ourselves into too big of a hole and we could not get out of it. Against another team like this, it is going to be difficult. It is a good learning experience for us and for some of my guys, it is their first time playing in the lights of a big arena, an SEC team. I think some of them were a little spooked by that. I am accustomed to doing it on a regular basis, and it is my group’s first time in an environment like this and a team like this. I think it will help us prepare for conference play down the road, so that is the positive. Once they settle down, we will be good. We have been a good rebounding team. They had 17 offensive rebounds; we have not allowed 17 offensive rebounds all year. You could argue that they are a bigger team, but we have played against some big teams, such as SMU. I thought we were a little slow in our reactions, but you have to give them credit, they took advantage of that.”

​John 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior)

​*John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Da Boot Sports
12/13/2023
LSU Sports Communications
By: LSU Staff


​   BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers used a 19-3 run over a seven-minute period of the second half to rally from five down and take a 74-56 decision over the Hornets Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers, now 6-4 on the season, rallied from a 34-30 halftime deficit and a 40-35 disadvantage with 17:23 left in the game.

   From there LSU began to assert itself offensively and defensively as well. After a made free throw and an offensive rebound, freshman Mike Williams III hit a three-pointer to put LSU down one, 40-39. ASU turned the ball over and Williams made a long jumper to give LSU the lead for good at 41-40 with 15:24 to play.

​   ASU missed a three and Williams countered on the other end with another made three to extend the lead after which Jalen Reed added one-of-two free throws to make it 45-40. The Hornets turned the ball over again and that led to a three-pointer again by Williams that made the advantage, 48-40, and a 13-0 run with 13:57 to play.

   Alabama State would hit a three, but Jordan Wright countered with his own trey and Derek Fountain hit a distance shot of his own to complete the run and give LSU its first double digit lead at 54-45 with 9:56 to play.
The Tigers would also put a 9-0 run together late in the contest and their 18-point margin at the end was their largest of the game.

   Ironically, on a night that the Wayde Sims Foundation was honored at halftime on what would have been Wayde Sims’ 26th birthday, the Tigers scored points that equaled the jersey number of both Wayde and his late father, Wayne, in the final 20 minutes – “44”.

​   Four Tigers were in double figures led by Mike Williams with 15 points with three treys and three assists. Both Jalen Reed and Jordan Wright had 13 points each. Reed drew eight fouls in the contest and had a team high seven boards, while Wright (who had his seventh consecutive double figure scoring game) had six assists and no turnovers in 36 minutes.

   Trae Hannibal, playing with Williams at the guard position in the second half, had 11 points and three steals.
Antonio “TJ” Madlock had 18 points to lead Alabama State, while Isaiah Range added 15 and CJ Hines 13. Ubong Okon led all players with 14 rebounds.

   LSU shot 52.1 percent for the game (25-48), highlighted by 15-of-26 (57.7%) in the second half. LSU was 9-of-23 from the arc (39.1%) and 15-of-23 from the free throw line. ASU made just 36.1 percent of their free throw attempts (22-of-61) including nine treys and 3-of-8 at the line.

   LSU out rebounded Alabama State, 37-30 on the offensive end and got 22 points off the 13 Hornet turnovers.

   LSU will travel to Houston Friday for an 11 a.m. game on Saturday against Texas in the Halal Guys Showcase presented by Gallery Furniture at the Toyota Center. The game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and televised by ESPN2.

​   POST-GAME QUOTES
LSU HEAD COACH MATT MCMAHON QUOTES
Head Coach Matt McMahon
Opening Statement…
“I was really excited about our second-half performance there. I really loved the energy and the effort the guys came out of the locker room with. I thought that we were able to be a little more disruptive in our full-court pressure there and had some great individual performances from guys who really stepped forward and earned their time tonight. We can go through each of them, but I thought that Jordan Wright with six assists and zero turnovers was huge. Mike Williams III was really more aggressive to start the second half. I thought that he passed up some opportunities in the first half, got us going, and hit some big shots for us. That is the shooter I believe he is capable of being for us. Trae Hannibal’s energy and defensive effort was tremendous. Derek Fountain, Jalen Reed, I can go down the line. I thought that Hunter Dean came in and gave us a physical presence on the floor and was fantastic on the glass and his ball-screen coverage. All in all, a strong 20 minutes and something we hope to build on going forward.”

​On second-half adjustments for Mike Williams III…
“There was nothing special, from a coach’s standpoint, but I really believe in him and I shared a few words with him before the start of the second half. As I mentioned, I thought he passed up some open looks and was a little tentative against the zone. I loved his aggressiveness on the offensive side of the ball, and his defense has been pretty consistent. I thought his offensive aggressiveness there, shooting the ball well from three, attacking off of the dribble, I thought he was fantastic.”

On Jalen Cook being cleared to play against Texas…
“That is our expectation. He will have two good days of preparation here, Thursday and Friday, and my understanding is that he is fully cleared and ready to go on Saturday. There was a lot of confusion throughout the afternoon and evening, and there was not much clarity in the right path. My understanding is he will be locked in and ready to go for Saturday, and I am really happy for him.”

   Alabama State Head Coach Tony Madlock
On the team’s performance and some of their takeaways from this game…
“The first takeaway is that a basketball game is two halves. We did some good things in the first half that confused them a little bit. We made some plays and shots but in the second half, when the ball was away from our bench, we needed to do a better job at communicating.”

​On LSU’s team and what they focused on when preparing for the game…
“We knew they were coming off a tough loss at home to Kansas State, so they were going to be fired up at the opportunity to get a win at home. We knew they were going to play well, and we came out playing well too, but the second half they came out and made shots. We didn’t do a good job defensively. They shot 52% for the game and 58% the second half. Those numbers are not good enough for us to win on the road. We needed to get more stops.”

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." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior)

​*John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Please check out the website and grab up some inspiring gear to wear!   www.hearthasnolimit.com
**Please let them know you heard about them from Da Boot Sports!

Da Boot Sports
12/9/2023
By: Jason Watson Jr.


   Baton Rouge, LA- LSU’s men’s basketball team suffered their fourth season defeat, this time against the Kansas State Wildcats by a score of 75-60. With the loss, Matt McMahon’s squad fell to 5-4 early in the year. 

   Kansas State guard Cam Carter tore through a lackluster Tiger defense in the first half, accounting for 19 of the Cats’ 42 points through the first twenty minutes. Carter would finish the game with 21 PTS, enough to finish with the game-high. 

   Junior forward Arthur Kaluma tallied up a double-double, going for 17 points and ten boards while aiding in the Kansas St. victory. The Wildcats moved up in the Big 12 conference rankings with the win. They moved to 8-2 overall. 

​   LSU’s senior guard led the home team with 19 points in the afternoon contest, but it was not enough to keep up with the offensive power of K-State. LSU only managed two double-digit scorers as opposed to four for the Wildcats. Jalen Reed scored 12 for the Tigers. 

  LSU managed to maintain competitiveness throughout most of the first half, exchanging baskets with K-State. However, a scoring drought came with roughly ten and a half minutes to go as the Tigers’ point total only grew from 20 to 25 in six minutes of action. During this time, Kansas State created an eleven-point advantage and never trailed again. 

  LSU was outrebounded 39-26 against the Wildcats. The Tigers could not get their perimeter shooting in a rhythm either, only shooting 30% from beyond the arc. 

   The Tigers have struggled to score points thus far, as they’ve only managed to put up 70+ in half of their games this young season. A young team and a lack of scoring are bad for LSU as we move toward SEC play. 

​   Next up for the Tigers is a home date on Wednesday night against a 4-4 Alabama State team. The PMAC will play host on December 13th at 7:00 pm CST while LSU looks back to the winning column. Geaux Tigers!

Photos Below By: Michael Bacigalupi

ohn 14:6 - "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior)

​*John 3;16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Da Boot Sports
12/1/2023
LSU Sports Communications
By: LSU Staff


   BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers went 9-of-12 at the free-throw line in the game’s final three minutes to help outlast Southeastern 77-66 Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. 

   With the win, LSU improves its overall record to 5-3 and its winning streak to 14 games against the Southeastern Lions (2-6).  

   The Tigers will matchup against Kansas State at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9 at the Maravich Center. The game will air on SEC Network. 

   Southeastern pieced together a late 14-4 run highlighted by a corner 3-pointer with 29 tics left to play to cut LSU’s lead to three points at 69-66, erasing a once 15-point advantage in the second half. Jordan Wright sealed the game down the stretch, going 4-of-4 at the stripe, and pulled down a defensive board to help hold off the Lions.

​   Will Baker finished the game with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and was 7-of-9 at the free-throw line. Baker also had a team-high seven rebounds. In addition to Wright’s 16 points, he registered four rebounds, three steals, and 5-of-6 at the charity stripe. Mike Williams III logged a season-high 15 points and four assists, and Tyrell Ward rounded out the top scorers for the Tigers with 11 points. 

   Southeastern’s Nick Caldwell matched Baker’s 18 points, followed by Roger McFarlane and Roscoe Eastmoond’s 10 points, respectively.  
 
   A tightly contested first half saw LSU take a 39-32 lead over Southeastern at the intermission. In the first 20 minutes, there were eight ties and four lead changes. LSU created space on the scoreboard thanks to a 19-7 run highlighted by seven unanswered points to make the count 36-27 – its largest lead of the half. SLU had a quick 5-0 burst to trim the deficit to four at 36-32, but Wright ended the frame with his second triple of the half to push the Tigers’ lead back to seven at the break.

​   Although the Lions struck first in the second half with a free throw, the Tigers sprinted to an 11-1 run to balloon their lead to 50-35 at the 15:56 mark. Southeastern connected on a 3-pointer for its first field goal of the second half and trimmed LSU’s advantage to 52-45 behind an overall 10-2 run when the Tigers called for time with 12:51 left to play. A dunk and layup by LSU’s Baker stretched the home team’s lead back to 11, but Southeastern responded quickly with a jumper and another three-ball to cut the Tigers’ lead to six at 56-50 and trailed 57-52 at the under eight-minute media timeout. LSU put together another 7-0 run featuring four free throws and a 3-pointer from Wright, making the count 64-52, but Southeastern hung around thanks to an 11-1 run of its own with eight free throws to make the count 65-63 with 2:19 on the clock. After a pair of free throws by Baker and Williams III to make the score 69-63, a 3-point heave from Caldwell hit the bottom of the net with 29 seconds left to play before Wright put the game on ice with four free throws. 

​   LSU shot 48.9 percent from the floor (22-of-45), 34.8 percent from behind the arc (8-of-23) and 21-of-29 from the free-throw line (21-of-29). SLU shot 36.1 percent from the field (22-of-61) and 25.8 percent from the three (8-of-31). The Lions were 14-of-16 at the stripe (87.5%), with all their free-throws coming in the second half.  

​   LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon
Opening statement
“I want to start with congratulating Coach (Kim) Mulkey on her 700th win. That’s an unbelievable accomplishment and it was a great atmosphere in here last night. As for the game, I’m proud of our players finding a way to win. I thank Coach (David) Kiefer and Southeastern. They have a fantastic team and they play really hard. Just when you think you’ve seen it all in a basketball game, you see something new down the stretch. The 15-point lead turned to three. I’m proud of our players getting their composure back together and finding a way to win. Availability wise, Daimion Collins is still out with the injured shoulder he suffered in the North Florida game. For Jalen Cook we’re still waiting. He meets all the criteria and we’re certainly hoping for good news on his appeal. I don’t know what the holdup is. Trae Hannibal dislocated a finger against North Florida. He tried to play through it a little bit tonight but he was limited and that’s why he was unable to play extended minutes. With all of that said, we’re thankful to get a win against a good basketball team and now we have a great opportunity to get better this week and finish strong with final exams. We’ll be able to reevaluate where we are and focus on how to get better as a team.
On shaking up the lineup…
“The lineup had nothing to do with demotion and promotion, we just needed some change. I thought Tyrell (Ward) got us off to a great start shooting the basketball. We did not perform well defensively in the first four minutes of the game. I thought we improved there in the last 16 minutes of the first half. I think we held them to 16 points in the final 16 minutes. I thought Jordan (Wright) responded well. He hit some big free throws and knocked down some big shots for us. He had a big rebound late in the game. Hunter Dean was really good defensively and on the glass. Their big fellow (Brody Rowbury) presented a match-up problem in there. He takes up space and is very skilled in the post. I thought Hunter did a nice job defensively and he had a really nice finish on one of his post ups.”

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