LSU Basketball Uses Big Second-Half Run for 86-70 Win Over UNO

LSU vs. New Orleans
December 22, 2024

LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon

Opening Statement…
“A good way to finish the break going into Christmas. The first half, great credit to New Orleans for being disruptive on the defensive end of the floor. Defensively, we did a solid job there. They shot 31% and 20% from three, but I thought we had a lot of self-inflicted issues on our offensive end. I know everyone will see the 2-of-16 (shooting) from three and that’s not ideal, but I thought the bigger issue was the nine turnovers. The second half, our ball security was a lot better. We only turned it over four times, with a couple of them coming late. That’s what enabled us to score 56 points, be a lot more efficient offensively and stretch the lead out.”

“To build the lead was exciting. That was when we went to the bench and some of our freshmen, like Curtis Givens, who went from five-to-zero on assist-to-turnovers. Vyctorius Miller scored again very effectively with his 17 (points). Robert Miller III, I think he only scored four points but I thought his impact on the game was huge. He had the highest plus/minus at +29 with seven defensive rebounds and he blocked three shots, I thought he was terrific. Our other freshman, Corey Chest, had his sixth-straight game with double-digit rebounds. I was really pleased with how the freshmen performed there and got us out to the 24-point lead.”

On what he said to the team at halftime following a slow start…
“I think the majority of those (first-half shots) were that we drove into the paint, their whole defense collapsed, and we kicked it out for the wide-open threes and just didn’t make them. More of my emphasis was on the turnovers. We made some really poor reads coming off of ball screens, and New Orleans did a good job defensively, but we literally threw it right to them. The message was ‘less home runs, more singles’ and just make the simple play. I thought we did that in the second half. We got easier looks and were able to get to the rim some more and finish plays.”

LSU Guard Cam Carter
On Coach McMahon’s words at halftime…
“You know, Coach came in and you know he got on us. He made an emphasis about you know their offensive rebounding and stuff like that and you know we got on the boards. That’s really what it was I think.”

On Freshman Guard Vyctorius Miller’s performance…
“I think he could have had more, that’s just me though. But, you know, sometimes he’s a little hesitant. You know he hesitated a little bit about shooting the ball and I tell him ‘Man if you got space and you can see the rim, man, shoot the ball’. He’s a great shot man, like he’s one of the best shot makers I’ve ever seen.”

On his successful rebounding this game…
“So, my teammates, coach JC [Jalen Courtney-Williams], mainly Coach Matt, you know they were all on my behind about getting rebounds because I don’t really remember how many I had last time, but they were on me about it. Because, you know, they see the potential in me, you know, being a great you know rebounder. So yeah, they put an emphasis on it.”
—
UNO Head Coach Stacy Hollowell
On the difference in performance in the two halves…
“In the first half the ball moved a little bit better than it has. We made the right plays; the ball did not go down. We had a kick out extra pass to (Guard) Jah Short in the corner, it did not go down. We had (Guard) James White kick it out to (Guard) Dae Dae Hunter wide open, it did not go down. I thought we played the right way in the first half. We had a game plan and I thought we executed pretty well. At half, we were maybe down one on the glass, but we were right there with them on the boards and that is where it kind of got away from us. (LSU Guard) Vyctorius Miller knocked down some threes there and got rolling. We had all of our eggs in one basket with (LSU Guard Jordan) Sears and (LSU Guard) Cam Carter on the perimeter. We have seen it before, guys get going, (Texas Guard Jordan) Pope. That is going to happen and I think we did not play many guys in that first half through what I felt like was our biggest punch. It probably hurt us a little bit, if we are being honest. I am proud of our guys, I thought even when it got to 20, we thought, ‘Let’s not get this thing to 30.’ We are making strides and I think we will have a good shot in the conference.”

On competing against LSU and their guards…
“We challenged JR Jacobson and Dae Dae Hunter to get into those guys and put some ball pressure there. I thought JR answered the challenge there. If we could get him knocking down some shots from the perimeter, I think we have something.”