BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tiger basketball team improved to 4-0 with an 89-57 win over the Texas Southern Tigers Saturday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU was led by sophomores Ronald Dupree and Collis Temple, III who added 23 and 22 points, respectively. The two combined to shoot 15-of-25 from the floor and added an impressive 12-of-14 effort from the charity stripe.
The LSU defense held Texas Southern in check allowing the visiting Tigers to hit only 21-of-59 (.356) from the field and forced 15 TSU turnovers producing 22 points off those turnovers. Despite being out-rebounded on the offensive side of the ball by a 12-5 margin, LSU won the overall battle on the boards 35-to-31.
Offensively, LSU shot an impressive 33-of-55 (.600) from the field including 8-of-19 (.421) from beyond the three-point line despite 10 first half turnovers. As a team, LSU was 15-of-18 (.833) from the charity stripe and connected on all nine free throw attempts in the second half.
“We weren’t very good in the first half,? LSU head coach John Brady said. “We were in too big of a rush offensively, and it showed up in our turnovers. We were in a hurry offensively in the first half, we had 10 turnovers in the first half alone. We only had three in the second half.”
LSU used a 9-0 run in the first 2:50 to open an early lead they would not surrender. The first five baskets for the LSU Tigers were assisted, and 11 of the 14 first half LSU baskets were assisted. For the game, LSU combined for 23 assists on 33 field goals led by point guard Torris Bright?s game high eight assists. Bright is currently leading the Bengal Tigers in that category with 25.
Despite the early run, Texas Southern (0-6) battled to keep the game within striking distance. The visiting Tigers continued to hang around keeping the LSU lead to just 14 with 8:37 left in the first half until a pair of free-throws by Chris Miller sparked an 8-0 TSU run that cut the LSU lead, 26-20. Miller led the TSU Tigers with 16 points and 13 rebounds.
With 5:00 left to play in the first half, senior Brian Beshara answered the run with a three-pointer from the top of the key igniting a 13-3 LSU run. Beshara finished the game with 12 points on 3-6 shooting form behind the arc. The senior is currently tied with Temple for the LSU lead in 3-point field goals with six.
The LSU run was capped by a breakaway dunk from junior Jermaine Williams giving the home-standing Tigers its biggest lead of the half, 39-23. A last minute field goal by TSU’s Marquel Timmons cut the LSU lead to 14, and LSU would take a 39-25 advantage to half.
“Our assist-to-turnover ratio was a lot better in the second half after we slowed down a little bit and go into transition,” Brady said. “In the first half, we just tried to do it to quickly. The worst thing that we did tonight was to start the game off 9-0. We thought that it was going to be easy, and offensively we got into a little bit of a rush.”
LSU would start the second half strong with a pair of three point plays by Dupree and Temple on the first two LSU possessions extending the LSU lead, 45-28, with 18:39 left.
A jumper and a pair of free throws from TSU’Ricky Bennnett kept TSU close and cut the LSU lead to 13, but that would be as close as the visiting Tigers would get. LSU answered with another 6-0 run giving them a 58-39 lead with 15:43 left.
Dupree and Temple are now the only LSU Tigers to score in double figures in all four of this season’s games.
LSU returns to action this Wednesday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. against McNeese State in the Maravich Assembly Center.
GAME NOTES:
LSU (4-0) vs. Texas Southern (0-6)
- This was LSU’s first meeting with Texas Southern. Coming into the game, LSU improved to 12-1 against SWAC members. LSU’s only loss to a SWAC opponent came at the hands of Jackson State (87-76) in 1995.
- LSU’s starters were Brian Beshara, Torris Bright, Ronald Dupree, Lamont Roland and Collis Temple III. All except for Temple have started every game in the 2000 season.
- LSU opened up a 9-0 lead in the first 3:38 of the game by making four of its first seven shots. Texas Southern’s first basket came at the 16:22 mark on a layup by Rakim Hollis.
- The LSU Tigers’ first five baskets were assisted and 11 of the LSU Tigers’ 14 first-half baskets were assisted. Two of the three unassisted baskets were fastbreak scores. For the game, 23 of LSU’s 33 baskets were assisted.
- Collis Temple III made first three shots from the field including two three-pointers to score 10 points in the first 12 minutes of the first half.
- LSU’s largest lead of the first half was 39-23, when Jermaine Williams drove the lane for a dunk with 36 seconds remaining in the first half.
- Although they are ranked last in the SEC in three-point field goal percentage (.255, 14-of-55), LSU made 5-of-11 (.455) in the first half and finished the game 8-of-19 (.421). LSU held Texas Southern to 5-of-23 (.217) from three-point range.
- LSU’s largest lead of the game was 33 (87-54) when Jack Warner hit a three pointer with 54 seconds remaining in the game.
- When Brian Beshara fouled out with 3:54 left to play, he became only the second LSU Tiger to be disqualified this season. Jason Wilson fouled out of the season opener against UL-Monroe in 18 minutes of play.
- With the 32-point win, LSU improved its average margin of victory to 26.3 for the season. LSU’s largest win of the season was a 43-point spread (92-49) against UL-Monroe to open the season.
- Two Tigers, Collis Temple III (22) and Ronald Dupree (23), scored more than 20 points in the same game for the second time this season.
- Torris Bright’s eight assists upped his average to 6.3 per game, good for second in the SEC.
- Ronald Dupree and Jermaine Williams led the Tigers with six rebounds each. This was the fourth-straight game that Dupree has led the Tigers in rebounds despite his lowest output of the season. He leads the league with 10.8 per game. LSU’s 35-rebound performance was the lowest of the season.
- LSU improved to 4-0 for the second straight season. LSU won its first 13 games of the 1999-2000 season.