LSU Wins Home Opener against Southeastern La. 96-43

Photo By: LSU/SEC

11/30/2020
By: Jordan Taylor
Da Boot Sports!


The LSU Fighting Tigers (1-1), would play their first home game of the 2020-21 season tonight against the Southeastern Lions in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center with under a 25% capacity crowd in attendance.
The Tigers would make quick work of the Lions tonight in a 96-43 blowout win to improve to 2-1 on the season. LSU led by as much as 32 points in the first half, and showed no intention of taking their foot off the gas pedal in the second half.
The Lions were just simply overwhelmed tonight as LSU's big men controlled the glass and the outside shots were falling, allowing the Tigers to pull away and quickly increase their lead.
After the victory, Will Wade would comment that he was very impressed with his guy's focus & effort for 40 minutes tonight.
Freshman Cam Thomas was quoted saying that playing with older guys is an advantage on early scoring success for himself.
While Trendon Watford would add that the team's communication on the floor is definitely getting better.

Below is our "Da Boot Sports" Game Recap....


1st HALF

The Tigers would look very impressive in the first half as Coach Wade would stick with the same starting five that started in St. Louis this past weekend.
The Tigers would control the opening tip but misfire. After back to back turnovers from
both teams, Cameron Thomas would get the scoring going with a huge three pointer at the 18:23 mark.
Coach Wade would go with an aggressive approach for his defense out the gate and try to work on a press/trap to force turnovers. The approach seemed to work as the Tigers racked up five steals and three turnovers early on.
LSU needed to defend the three point line better this game after struggling to in their first two contests. A step in the right direction was taking as SLU would only go 3-13 from behind the arc.
The Tigers were very impressive with the effort that was given in the first half, after dominating on the defensive glass and their hustle for loose balls.
Will Wade would play eight different Tigers in the first half with Trendon Watford leading the way with 13 points. Mwani Wilkinson would come off the bench to add an offensive spark as he would add 12 points and collect 6 rebounds.
LSU would lead by as much as 32, as they would control the tempo and pace of the game. The Tigers would shoot 52% from the floor, while going 9-13 at the free throw line.
LSU would take a 50-18 lead into the locker room to end the 1st half.




2nd HALF:

Cameron Thomas would get the scoring going for the Tigers to start the second half, cashing in on one of two from the free throw line at the 19:10 mark to increase the lead to 51-18. LSU would show no signs of letting up on their opponent and Southeastern La. was never really in the game at any point as we didn't see much fight from the Lions tonight after once being down by 54 points.
LSU out rebounded, out hustled, and out played the inferior Lions for the entire twenty minutes of the second half.
After Shareef O'Neil got into foul trouble, we were able to see new faces come off the bench. Josh Gray showed why he was one of the highest rated centers in the nation last season, as the freshman would introduce himself with a big dunk & some big time rebounds.
The young Tigers would stay at full throttle, continuing to dominate the ball game as they made sure that there would be no second half let down tonight.
​ Late in the game Coach Wade would start to empty the bench as the Tigers would finish cruising to the 96-43 win.



Heading into the third game of the season LSU didn't blink as they showed on the court tonight why there was so much preseason buzz for this group of young men. They looked really good at times and very few mistakes were made tonight in a complete team effort. Guys will begin to grow up right before our eyes. The veteran players need to continue to lead and the new faces need to continue to impress and improve.
The Tigers, even though playing a much inferior opponent, show improvement tonight, especially defending the three point shot.
True freshman Cameron Thomas led the way for the Tigers tonight scoring 21 points in his impressive home debut. Trendon Watford also had a big night, just missing a double double with a 20 point, 9 rebound performance. O'Neal, Days, and Wilkinson all had big nights around the glass combining for a total of 22 rebounds.
Overall the Tigers had a good night shooting going 30-60 from the floor for 50%, 13-36 from the three point range for 36%, and again shooting extremely well from the free throw line going 23-29 for 79%.
Defensively the Tigers played well with 40 rebounds, 8 steals. 3 blocks, scoring 17 points
off turnovers. This young LSU team still has much improvement to make before SEC play begins, but tonight they continued to head in the right direction.
SLU's Keon Clergeot would lead the Lions in scoring and rebounds tonight with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Next up the LSU Tigers will host LA Tech on Sunday, Dec 6th at 5pm in the PMAC The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and on the radio, 98.1 FM.

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Photos By: LSU/SEC