BATON ROUGE — The seventh-ranked LSU men’s basketball team shot 70.8 percent in the first 20 minutes, built a 22-point halftime advantage and coasted to an 88-57 decision over Louisiana-Monroe Sunday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers are now 2-0 and looking forward to their first expected test of the season Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Maravich Center against what is expected to be nationally-ranked Wichita State. The Shockers went to the NCAA Sweet 16 a year ago and return four starters. Tickets for the game are now on sale online at www.LSUsports.net and at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office.
Junior forward Glen Davis was just two points off his career high with 26 points to lead LSU, 17 in the second half, while sophomore Tasmin Mitchell had a career high 21 points that included a career best five treys. Darnell Lazare hit 8-of-10 field goal attempts and 16 points, while Dameon Mason had 10 points and seven assists.
For the game, LSU shot 60 percent and outrebounded the Warhawks, 42-28. Louisiana-Monroe shot 32.8 percent from the floor (21-of-64).
Jordan Payne had a big game for ULM with 21 points in 31 minutes off the bench while Lance Brasher scored 14.
“I don’t know if we could have played better in the first half being that this was only our second regular season game,” said LSU Coach John Brady. ” I like what we did defensively in the first half and offensively we executed well and didn’t make many mistakes. We were efficient as we could be in the first half.”
The Tigers took the lead for good off the first shot of the game as Lazare laid the ball in 16 seconds into the contest. Glen Davis‘ two free throws sandwiched another Lazare bucket to give LSU a 6-0 lead 1:11 into the game. Mitchell hit the first of his three-pointer a minute later to go up 9-2 and on a Davis layup at the 15:30 mark the Tigers were up for good in double digits, 15-5. LSU would go to the break, up 44-22, and lead by as much as 36 in the second half.
The Tigers shot well throughout the first have and, more importantly, for the second straight game good assists by the Tiger guards set up a lot of the baskets.
“Our assists to made field goals ratio has been really good,” said Brady. “Hopefully, we can keep that going. I think doing well in your assists to made field goals ratio is a sign of unselfishness and shows how your team plays well together.”
Louisiana Monroe falls to 2-2 on the young season.
“I thought in the first half we played a little lethargic, almost scared. Playing the number seven team in the country we didn’t come out with the fire and intensity that we needed to have,” said ULM coach Orlando Early. “LSU had a lot to do with that. They did a good job defending us.”
LSU HEAD COACH JOHN BRADY QUOTES
Opening statement…
“I don’t know if we could have played better in the first half being that this was only our second regular season game. I like what we did defensively in the first half and offensively we executed well and didn’t make many mistakes. We probably turned the ball over three or four times which we need to correct. We were efficient as we could be in the first half. I challenged some guys that came off the bench because I need a couple of those guys to be able to execute well for us. When you have a big lead it is hard to maintain the concentration level that you want out of your players. I believe it is my job to keep the players focused on what they need to work on to be prepared for Wichita State this Saturday and for our other games down the road.”
On getting prepared for Wichita State…
“The good thing about this is that we have had two games that we can really grow and learn from. We are going to lift weights tomorrow, but not practice. After that we will have three to four days to practice to prepare for Wichita State. They have four starters back and are a very good team. I would be surprised if they are not ranked this week. Hopefully our fans will come out to watch that game.”
On having so many assists in the first two games…
“Our assists to made field goals ratio has been really good. Hopefully we can keep that going. I think doing well in your assists to made field goals ratio is a sign of unselfishness and shows how your team plays well together. These guys have been together for a while now and they understand what needs to be done. The problem with a veteran team is challenging them to do it everyday no matter who the opponent is. This team is where it needs to be right now in my mind. I don’t think we are behind in anyway.”
Louisiana-Monroe head coach Orlando Early quotes
On how his team played …
“I thought in the first half we played a little lethargic, almost scared. Playing the number seven team in the country we didn’t come out with the fire and intensity that we needed to have. LSU had a lot to do with that. They did a good job defending us. I felt like in the second half we settled down a little bit, and the guys said, ‘All right, we’re playing LSU at LSU. OK, let’s go. Let’s play a little bit now.’ I thought we played better in the second half, but obviously this team is better than our team. They’re better than a lot of teams right now. This team is better than our team, and we have to continue to use these games to get better and better and see what happens next time.”
On the play of guard Tony Hooper …
“Tony is one guy that if any guy on the team is intimidated, it wouldn’t be Tony. I just felt like he played bad. Tony plays hard and competes every time out, but I didn’t think he had a good game. But again, a lot of that had to with Garrett Temple and Tack Minor and those guys defending him. They did a good job of defending us; they did a good job guarding our ball screens. They did a great job executing against us. When they ran the ball screen they did a great job of executing. So hopefully this stays behind us, and Tony will learn from it and get better.”
On Jordan Payne’s injury and how he played …
“I think he’s OK. He may need a stitch or two, but we were waiting on this day for Jordan. We know he can score the ball and is a really aggressive offensive player. We’re waiting on him to get going, and today he played really well. Now we have to get him and Tony (Hooper) and Jonas (Brown) all going at the same time.”