BATON ROUGE — Behind a school-record 16 three-pointers, the LSU men’s basketball team stunned SEC Western Division leader Auburn, 94-63, on Wednesday night’s contest in the Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers from Baton Rouge (16-9, 5-8 SEC), winners of 4-of-6 games since Feb. 5, hit 64.0 percent of their long-range shots (16 of 23) including a streak of nine straight spanning more than 16 minutes between both halves. The 64-percent performance was also a school record and tied for fourth in league history among teams that made at least 15 treys.
Six different LSU Tigers hit three-pointers.
“I figured we were on our way (to breaking the record),” LSU senior guard Torris Bright said. “Darrel Mitchell was shooting well, Collis (Temple) was too, and I hit a couple of early shots. I have broken a lot of records while I’ve been here, but this was a great one for the team. I think we still can play better because we had a lot of turnovers. I had too many turnovers, but we shot really well. We can always play better, and we will.”
LSU, which improved to 38-0 under head coach John Brady when scoring 80 points, shot 73.9 percent from the field in the first half and finished 32 of 54 for 59.3 percent. The Tigers had more turnovers (eight) than missed shots (six) in the first half, converting 10-of-12 three-pointers in the first 20 minutes.
Temple and Mitchell led all scorers with 19 points each including a total of eight three-pointers. Mitchell made all five of his three-point attempts and had four assists, while Temple was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc.
“I knew the record was 13 (three-pointers) and we almost got there in the first half.” Temple said. “When the ball is flowing, when you’re shooting the ball off the pass or out of the offense then you are usually a lot more successful. We moved the ball very well. In the first half, we had 15 assists on 17 baskets. We’re a good team when we play like that.”
Bright scored all 14 of his points in the first half and was 4-of-8 from three-point range. He was joined by point guard Xavier Whipple with a team-high six assists.
Forwards Jaime Lloreda and Ronald Dupree were the fourth and fifth Tigers in double figures scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
LSU added 14-of-17 free throws to garnish a tremendous performance.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a better display of shooting than (LSU) put on tonight,” Auburn head coach Cliff Ellis said. “They came out and were on fire. Early on, we were not playing that bad. Their threes were daggers, they just nailed them.
“We hit a buzzsaw. Sometimes that happens. If LSU can play any better than that, you don’t want to see it. It’s scary.”
Auburn (18-8, 7-6 SEC), losers of 3-of-4 and 6-of-9, were shell-shocked throughout the contest. The Plainsmen weren’t able to dominate the paint and were inconsistent from the perimeter, shooting 43.9 percent from the field (25 of 57).
Taking away a 5-of-5 three-point shooting performance by reserve guard Troy Gaines in the last nine minutes of the blowout, Auburn made only 3-of-15 from long range and 20 of 52 from the field.
Gaines led the Tigers with 18 points in only nine minutes of clean-up. Marco Killingsworth was 7-of-10 from the field for 15 points, while Marquis Daniels scored all 11 of his points in the first half.
LSU hit its first three shots from the field, including consecutive three-pointers by Bright from the top of the key to take a 10-4 lead over Auburn in the opening minutes.
As Auburn cut the lead to two on a dunk by Davis and a jumper by Daniels, LSU went on a 10-0 that included three more treys — two by Temple and one Bright.
After another basket by Daniels, Dupree hit a 17-footer to start a 13-5 LSU run that upped the lead to 33-17 at the eight-minute mark and consisted of bombs from Bright and Mitchell.
Again, Auburn rallied with a 7-0 run of its own capped by a spot-up three-pointer by Daniels to narrow the gap to nine, 33-24.
However, LSU responded with an 15-0 run that featured two more treys by Mitchell — his fourth without a miss — and Dupree. LSU led 48-24 with less than a minute to play in the half.
LSU led 50-26 at halftime. The Tigers have outscored its past three home opponents, 143-66, in the first half.
The Fighting Tigers hit nine-straight three-pointers without a miss from the 14:56 mark in the first half until Temple’s missed with 18:23 to play in the second half. LSU outscored Auburn 43-20 in that span.
Despite making only 4-of-10 shots in the first 5:38 of the second half, LSU’s lead grew to 31 on Antonio Hudson’s first three-pointer and a fast-break layup by Xavier Whipple off a behind-the-back pass from Temple.
Mitchell’s 19-footer with just more than 13 minutes to play tied the school record for three-pointers registered on six previous occasions and capped a 10-0 run to increase the lead to 63-29 with 13:12 to play.
Lewis Monroe gave Auburn its third three-pointer of the night to break the streak, however, two-straight LSU steals led to layups and a 67-32 lead.
Hudson broke the school’s team record with LSU’s 14th from beyond the arc with 11:07 to play.
LSU’s lead grew 40 on three occasions before Auburn cut to back to 35, 78-43, on a layup by Monroe.
However, LSU scored seven straight for a 41-point lead, 87-46, it’s largest of the game.
The Tigers return to action on Saturday, March 1, when they travel to Tennessee for a 6 p.m. CST contest. The game will be televised on SEC-TV, FOX Sports in Baton Rouge.