BATON ROUGE — LSU senior forward Jaime Lloreda completed a strong three-game week of games with 26 points and 10 rebounds as LSU ran its record to 4-0 for the first time since 2000 with a 96-65 win over Louisiana Monroe Saturday at the Maravich Assembly Center.
The senior, who played just 23 minutes against the Indians, finished a three-game stretch in which he averaged 26.3 points per game and 12.7 rebounds a contest highlighted by a 30 points, 21-rebound effort on Monday against McNeese State.
For the second straight game, the senior from Colon, Panama was on his game both from the field and the free throw line, hitting 9-of-13 field goals and 8-of-9 free throw attempts. In the last two games, Lloreda was 15-of-19 from the free throw line.
Lloreda was one of five players in double figures for the Tigers who broke the game open early, going from an 8-6 lead with 15:31 to go in the first half to 21-7 four minutes earlier en route to a 43-24 halftime advantage.
Darrel Mitchell had 13 points and four assists, while Tack Minor was in double figures for the first time with 12 points. Regis Koundjia also hit in double figures for the first time with 12 and Brandon Bass had 10 points and six blocked shots.
For the game, LSU shot a consistent 64.8 percent from the floor (35-54 for the game, 16-of-26 in the first half and 19-of-28 in the second half), while holding Louisiana Monroe to 36.4 percent (24-of-66).
“Ninety six points and they score sixty five, yet there are still several things we can do better,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “I’m not complaining about winning obviously, but there are some things that we can do better from an execution standpoint. I think we have gotten better. I think we have improved. I think we are learning how to play as a team a little bit better, but we still have some things we can improve with some practice. I think overall defensively we are better then we were when we started.”
For the fourth straight game, the Tigers were able to get fouled and go to the free throw line, attempting 27 free throws and for the second straight game the Tigers did a good job of making them, converting 19. For the four games, LSU is 85-of-137 or 62 percent at the line. In the last two games, LSU is making free throws at a 70 percent clip.
“We run a pretty good offense at times, and this team seems to have a knack to get to the free throw line. We get fouled, we’ve shot a lot of free throws in the first four games, and that is a good stat,” said Brady.
Chavis Thompson led Louisiana Monroe, 0-5, with 14 points, while RoShon Jacobs had 12 and Mark Keith 11. The Indians quickly returned to Monroe to open their home season on Sunday afternoon.
LSU put the game away with 12-0 run to open the second half.
“We just didn’t come out (in the second half) with a lot of fight and fire,” said ULM Coach Mike Vining. “They (LSU) got ready to play. We were ready to play to start the game, but we couldn’t get anything going.”
The Tigers now, after shooting over 55 percent from the field and 48 percent from the three-point arc, now must take an 18-day break which includes the concentrated study period dead week that begins on Wednesday and the final exam week (beginning Dec. 10) before resuming play on Dec. 16 with a nationally-televised ESPN contest with Utah at the Maravich Assembly Center.
“Certainly it was nice to win the game and get a lot of guys some playing time,” Brady said. “Some individual guys played pretty good. We just need to continue to try and get better.”