AUBURN, Ala. — Garrett Green scored 18 points off the bench and LSU held Auburn to six points in the first half in a 62-55 win on Saturday in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
Freshman Matt Derenbecker added 15 points in his first career start for LSU (9-7, 1-0).
Prior to Saturday’s game, Auburn had not scored less than 23 points in a single half all season. Earnest Ross scored 21 points for Auburn (7-8, 0-1), which had its season-best four-game winning streak snapped.
LSU went into halftime with a 32-6 lead. Auburn began the second half on an 18-5 run and cut LSU’s lead to six points, but Auburn did not have enough to compensate for its poor shooting in the first half.
LSU was finally able to get a win under its belt after having dropped four of its last five games.
LSU Head Coach Trent Johnson
On way the game finished …
“This is an SEC team with good players and they are well coached. In the first half, we were very good defensively with a combination of our defense and (Auburn) missing some shots. In the second half, we didn’t handle their pressure very well, but our kids kept their composure and found a way to win. This is a good win for this team.”
On holding the lead on the road in an SEC game …
“We’ve been there before. We’ve come up short where we had to sustain and play two good halves. We got off to a good start in the second half. I think we scored the first five points, and they were relaxed and thought this was going to be easy, and that’s just human nature. We haven’t had a chance to enjoy a win in a long time, and this is our first big win for this group, and we’re going to enjoy this win and worry about Arkansas tomorrow.”
On how the win will be celebrated …
“Probably get on the bus, have food and go home. I’ll sit on the bus and do what I normally do. We’re still smiling. I’m just happy for this team. We have a great group of kids. Somebody brought it to my attention that out of 345 Div. I teams, we’re #326 in terms of having the youngest team in college basketball, and I think Auburn is #311 or something like that. So this is good for us.”
LSU Player Quotes
Matt Derenbecker, Forward, Freshman
On hanging on …
“There was no doubt in our mind they were going to come out and put that pressure on us. It’s league play, no one wants to lose. The strongest survive when it comes to the full-court press. We had to be mentally tough to handle that run whenever the crowd got into it, and the game started to get away from us.”
On Auburn only scoring six points in the first half …
“They didn’t shoot well in the first half, but I have to give credit to our defense. We’ve been stressing point-of-attack defense since we went to a zone. We were talking all the time. We knew where they all were at all times.”
Garrett Green, Forward, Junior
On turning back Auburn’s second-half rally …
“Not once did I second-guess myself during the game. During practice, we’ve been pushing really, really hard. We want to win so bad as a team. We came out and put everything out on the court. We came out with a win.