BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers had their 17-game home winning streak snapped Saturday night as Xavier rallied from a four-point, early second-half deficit to win, 80-70, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The 15th-ranked Musketeers are now 17-2 on the season, 6-0 on the road, while LSU fell at home for the first time this season, dropping to 15-4. The 17-game home winning streak that was snapped was the fourth longest in the 38-year history of the building.
Derrick Brown scored 22 points to lead Xavier while Marcus Thornton had his second straight 30-point game with 30 points.
It was Thornton’s three-pointer that gave the Tigers a 40-36 lead early in the second half. Brown responded with a pair of 3s to tie it at 44, and Xavier gradually built a lead as large as 11 before holding on. B. J. Raymond added 21 points for Xavier, driving for a layup inside the last two minutes to put the Musketeers up 70-63. Kenny Frease had 12 points.
Xavier went ahead for good when Raymond scored inside to make it 48-47. Jason Love, who had 10 points, added a pair of free throws and a jump hook in the lane, then Raymond added another foul shot to cap a 7-0 run that gave the Musketeers a 53-47 lead.
Raymond’s 3 soon after made it 59-50 Terrell Holloway’s 3 made it 62-52 with 5:41 left, and LSU was not able to get closer than five points after that.
Tasmin Mitchell scored 10 points for the Tigers as did Bo Spencer.
The Tigers were outrebounded on the game 40-27 and shot just 32.3 percent in the final 20 minutes (10-of-31), while Xavier was going 12-of-20 (60%) from the field and 16-18 from the free throw line over the same span.
The game drew the largest paid attendance since the present seating configuration was put in place before the 2005-06 season of 13,839 as all tickets were sold and the students came in to the turn of over 2,700 for the second time in three games.
The Musketeers led 12-4 after Raymond’s 3. Brown’s alley-oop jam the ignited a 6-0 surge that put Xavier up 20-10. LSU made a game of it after that, responding with a 10-0 run that began with Terry Martin‘s trey and ended with Mitchell’s baseline jumper to tie it at 20.
The rest of the half was tight, with neither team leading by more than three. Scoring on an array of jumpers and hanging shots high off the glass, Thornton scored 14 points in the first half, the last on a free throw giving LSU a 37-36 lead at halftime.
The Tigers go back to Southeastern Conference play the rest of the year and resume action Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Knoxville against the University of Tennessee. LSU returns home for the centennial game on Saturday and a full day of activities culminating with the contest against Arkansas at 4 p.m.
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON QUOTES
Opening statement …
“First things first, I think I speak for the players, program and team, we would like to apologize to the fans who came out and supported us because we didn’t get it done. Obviously this is a good basketball team that beat us and the bottom line is, we aren’t there yet. We need to make sure that by the end of the year we continue to improve so we can compete at that level. The game was decided on the glass it was 40-27 and I thought their physicality wore us down.
“Offensively, we had some guys take some quick shots, but that’s to be expected in a game of this magnitude where guys are out there and trying to compete and do too much at time, but I can’t fault our effort. Our execution though, that’s on us. Xavier is good and they are poised, strong, and understand their roles. Those are all the things we understood going in. I would just have liked to have seen us play better at key moments in key stretches during the game.”
On if Xavier had more of mental or physical advantage …
“Today it was more physical. Mentally, they had a period where they could have separated us. The majority of you have seen this team. There is no quit in this team. What happened at Utah was what happens to a lot of teams in the course of a year. It was more of a physical toughness there. I thought they wore down some of our perimeter players. I thought Bo (Spencer) got put back on his heels. Tasmin (Mitchell) got worn down a bit, but we could never get this game in a situation where we were up five or six and in a good rhythm offensively.
“When teams like that are physical, they knock you out of a rhythm. Again, for me looking at it and going in, I can’t fault that because that’s what you want. You want them to go out there and be aggressive and not be afraid to make a play. This group didn’t play looking afraid and timid. We want to get ourselves back in this situation at home or on the road late in the year or during the course of the year and win a game.”
On whether he feels the game against Xavier was at the right time in the schedule…
“This was a measuring stick, but it shaped up for the schedule in terms of the game. I don’t get caught up in who, when or where we play. I have too much respect for the call of the game and too much respect for the players and coaches. Our whole field is concerned about us, I’m concerned about my group. It could be Xavier, it could be the Lakers, but I don’t care. I’m just worried about who is next on the schedule, what we have to do and what we have to improve on.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Opening statement…
“Tonight was a big game with two pretty good teams. They (Xavier) came out with the victory. I think we missed a lot of easy shots. We didn’t defend like we normally do.”
On fatigue playing a factor in missing 15 straights shots in second half…
“Jump shots just didn’t go in. If we would have made those shots, we wouldn’t have been fatigued. We just have to make jump shots. It wasn’t fatigue.”
On crowd’s part in tonight’s game…
“It was wonderful. We needed them tonight. They backed us up when we were up and down. That’s what a big crowd does for the home team. We don’t have that every night. I’m sorry that we couldn’t pull out a victory for them, but there will be more to come.
Opening statement…
“We knew coming in to the game that Xavier is a tough, physical team. They showed that tonight. They executed down the stretch, and they came out with a win at the end.”
On playing against a significantly physical team like Xavier…
“This is the most physical team we’ve played so far. They were big and strong in every position. Like Chris (Johnson) said, this is a learning process. We have to get in the weight room and get stronger, so we can get ready for everything else if we plan on playing in late March.”
Opening statement…
“We knew it was going to be a close game from the start. We didn’t make free throws and easy shots. Defense fell apart. That’s a learning process. We’ll work on that Monday in practice and go from there.”
On fatigue playing a factor in missing 15 straights shots in second half…
“Defense was hurting. Offensively, you aren’t going to have a good night every night. Jump shots didn’t fall. Tonight, defensively, we didn’t defend some plays that came back to bite us in the end.”
On defending Xavier’s versatile players…
“Usually I guard post. With how physical (Derrick) Brown is and the way he can take out the ball and dribble made it difficult. I knew he could drive, so I had to back off a little bit. He had a few jump shots tonight, so you just learn from it. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. That’s the way I look at it.”
XAVIER HEAD COACH SEAN MILLER
On the win…
“It was a huge game. Keep in mind that LSU had won 17 straight games dating back to last year and 13 in a row this year. There was an incredibly hostile crowd here and probably the best that we’ve played in front of in almost two years, and we’ve played in front of some big ones. I think for us to come in and do what we did says a lot about our team. Most importantly, it says a lot about our older players. I really thought (forward) Derrick Brown was the best player on the court. He had 22 points and nine rebounds. He really made some big, timely three-point shots. (Guard) B.J. Raymond didn’t really play well in the first half, but as he has done so often in his career, he can put a bad segment behind him and come back. He ends up with 21 points and made some clutch free throws.
“I thought (guard) C.J. Anderson was really a steady force throughout. He had seven points and nine rebounds, but his 30 minutes was pretty much steady from the beginning to the end. As it filters down, once again (center) Kenny Frease. He was 6-for-8 from the floor with 12 points. Every one of his six baskets was big time against a big-time player behind him. We were a team that could score close to the basket as reflective in our 53 percent field goal percentage for the game against a very good defensive team.”
On the offense…
“We did a better job with some things that we’ve talked about recently. You saw a couple of times that we had some great passes to a cutter. When you play against a pressure team, it helps you get the easy layup. I thought at times we really were aware of how important it was to go to the post whether it be (forward) Jason Love, who did a great job as well, and Kenny Frease. We often times talk about adding our centers’ production together, and if you look at it from those terms, from our five spot tonight, we had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and they combined to shoot 10-for-13 from the field. From that position, you could make the case that was our most dominant position tonight, and they also defended some very good players.
“Just looking at some of the guys we played against, Marcus Thornton and Tasmin Mitchell. Marcus Thornton had 30 points. I’m going to say he’s an NBA player. Some of the shots he made, we didn’t necessarily have an answer. We knew that coming in. Those two guys are really good and certainly why LSU is 15-4.”
XAVIER PLAYER QUOTES
F Derrick Brown
On the Xavier defense…
“Our defense is the personality to the team. We are not going to have an offense night every game. LSU is a great team and they are really well coached. We had lapses in the first half on defense but coming in after halftime we really wanted to turn the game around. I think that’s what makes us who we are.”
On what was the winning factor over LSU…
“Team, there is no I in team. It’s an all team effort every game. Freshman, sophomore, junior or senior it doesn’t matter. It’s a whole group effort and we stuck with that to get the job done.”
G B.J. Raymond
On the game …
“LSU is a well coached and well played team. It was a hard fight tonight. Everyone played their hearts out. I can’t say anything bad about LSU. I have tremendous respect for them. When it came down to the end we just fought a little harder and came out with a victory.”
On free throws…
“Our coach makes us shoot 100 free throws a day. It does not matter if it’s an off day or not. Some have to shoot 200. We use to shoot 60 percent from the free throw and that was not good enough to go where we want to go. Now when we go to the free throw line at the end of the game we have confidence and we know we’ve done it a thousand times.”
On the win over an SEC team…
“Every game is a big game for us. We want a victory over every team. LSU is a great team. They have a new coach and he has made each player part of the system. They have great players and fought very hard. Being a SEC team and we are from the Atlantic 10 we want to let people know that we can play. We just want to compete and win.”