VALENCIA, Spain – The LSU Tigers evened its record in the exhibition basketball tour in Spain Saturday afternoon with a dominating 111-86 win over the Valencia All-Stars at the L’Alqueria Del Basket.
LSU used a 21-0 run at the end of the second quarter and the start of the third quarter to seal the deal. The 21-0 run covered the final 13 points of the second quarter and the first eight of the third quarter as LSU opened up a 71-39 lead.
Valencia had done a good job staying with the Tigers and trailed LSU around the midway point of the quarter, 43-36. But the Tigers would give up only three points in what amounted to a 28-3 scoring spree. Skylar Mays was a big part of the second quarter run, with several drives and scores, including an impressive drive past a defender that resulted in a massive slam dunk
A total of 11 Tigers of the 12 that played scored in the contest with six in double figures for LSU. Trendon Watford led LSU with 19 points and 11 rebounds, following 18 against the Dominican Republic, with James Bishop getting 17, Mays 14, Darius Days 12 and Aundre Hyatt and Javonte Smart 10 apiece.
Millan Jimenez had 28 points for Valencia to lead the hosts. Valencia made more three-points field goals (15) than two-point field goals (14).
According to available stats, LSU had 62 points in the paint to just 24 for Valencia. But LSU also shot well from the arc, making 13 three-pointers. LSU finished up at 45-87 for the game from the field overall. LSU was 8-of-13 at the free throw line.
LSU out rebounded the Valencia team, 52-27, including 19-3 on the offensive end. LSU had 24 assists compared to just four the other night against the Dominican Republic.
The Tigers led 29-20 after one period, then outscored Valencia, 34-19 in the second quarter to lead 63-39. The Tigers built as much as a 36-point lead, 109-73, in the fourth quarter.
Will Wade Quotes Postgame:
“I thought we played better. I thought we did a lot of the little things better. We did a better job of getting on the offensive glass. Our defensive rotations were still a little bit slow. It was good to see some guys get in there and make some things happen. I was really proud of Aundre Hyatt. We hadn’t seen how he could react. He had been hurt with the knee injury a little bit. I was proud to see (James) Bishop bounce back. He didn’t play like himself that first game for whatever reason. Today he was a lot more like himself. 24 assists on 12 turnovers and a couple of the turnovers were late. A couple of calls against us late, so we probably only had 8 or 9 turnovers. I was pleased with the way we took care of the ball a lot better. We had a ton of deflections. We had 29 in the first half. We were active defensively. We got the ball in the paint. We just played a lot closer to our game. We got a couple free throw offensive rebounds. We just did things a lot better. Overall, I was pleased.”
(On the 28-3 which finished with a 21-0 run at the end of the second quarter and start of the third):
“We got stops and we were able to get out in transition. Skylar (Mays) dunk, you don’t see many like that so that was tremendous. We were able to get out and make plays. That was the name of the game for us.”
(Happy with the way they bounced back after Thursday’s loss):
“I thought we bounced back well. We had a good film session today, and we went through and we got some things corrected. Our offense was better. We moved the ball better and we ran our stuff better. We screened better. We played better defense for the most part and rebounded the ball a lot better.”