BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU men’s basketball team handed Louisiana Tech its first loss of the season, rolling past the Bulldogs, 90-50, on Monday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (3-0) has won 37 of its last 38 home games against in-state opponents, including a current nine-game winning streak, and improves to 14-1 all-time against Louisiana Tech (2-1), extending its winning streak in the series to five games. The Tigers also recorded their third consecutive victory by 40 or more points for the first time in program history.
Michael Ružić led LSU with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including a three-pointer, and added five rebounds. Abdi Bashir Jr. finished with 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting and knocked down four three-pointers.
Mo Dioubate added 15 points and a game-high six rebounds, while Donavan Dent rounded out LSU’s double-digit scorers with 12 points. Dent also led the Tigers with five assists, five steals and two blocks.
LSU shot 56.4 percent from the floor (31-of-55) and recorded 21 assists, marking its third consecutive game shooting better than 50 percent from the field. The Tigers connected on eight three-pointers (8-of-24), went 20-of-29 from the free-throw line and continued their dominance in the paint with a 40-24 advantage.
Defensively, LSU held Louisiana Tech to 31.6 percent shooting (18-of-57), including a 2-of-16 mark from 3-point range. The Tigers forced 23 turnovers, converting them into 38 points, and recorded 16 steals, tying for the third-most under head coach Will Wade.
Jaylen Fenner led Louisiana Tech with 12 points and added two steals in the loss.
LSU used a dominant opening half to take a 47-20 lead at the break. After allowing the opening basket, the Tigers responded with a 16-2 run to take control and eventually built a 28-point advantage. Bashir Jr. led LSU with 10 points, including two three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.
The dominance continued after halftime as LSU scored the first 11 points to cap a 13-0 run spanning the two halves. The Tigers stretched their advantage to 82-29 following back-to-back triples from Bashir Jr. with 8:03 remaining. LSU's lead grew to as many as 55 points before the Tigers emptied the bench and secured the 90-50 victory.
LSU will next travel to Spokane, Washington, to face No. 14 Gonzaga at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday, Nov. 14. The matchup will be played at Numerica Veterans Arena and televised on USA Sports.
LSU vs. Louisiana Tech Post Game Quotes
LSU Head Coach Will Wade
Nov. 9, 2026
Opening Statement
"I thought we played a little bit better (tonight). We have about three areas we want to improve in. Turnovers are about the same; we got sloppy at the end of the game and turned the ball over 14 times, that's way too many. Rebounding was just okay; We gave up 38 percent offensive rebounding rate to them and a 62 percent defensive rebounding rate for us. That's not going to get it done. We're going to have to be 70 plus on Saturday to win that. We were 38 percent on the offensive glass. 37 and a half percent, we're going to have to be better there; we're going to have to be 40 plus to win on Saturday. I thought our free throw shooting was improved. Our three-point shooting was a little bit improved. So that was the positives, but we're going to need to be much better. We're getting out of the little kiddie pool, with our floaters on, and going into the deep end. So we're going to have to be much improved on Saturday."
On the defensive effort tonight…
“It was good until the last about 10 minutes. We held them to 20 points in the first half; we held them to 8 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. And then they got loose at the end, so we can't do that. We wanted to hold them to 45 or under. When we came out at half time, we held them to 50. We've got to certainly be a bit cleaner there, but the first half effort was really good.”
Guard Abdi Bashir Jr.
On LSU’s three-pt shooting…
“We’re a good three-point shooting team. Obviously, we’re so dominant in the paint that we don’t need to rely on threes, but when we get open looks, we have guys that can knock them down. I believe in Skyy (Clark) more than anyone to knock them down.”
On LSU’s transition offense…
“Our rebounders like Saliou (Niang) and Mo (Dioubate) can both push the break. Donovan (Dent), Skyy and Divine (Ugochukwo) get it out so quick that when we get up the floor, we have everything up there; shooters, post-presence, everything you can think of. Scoring in transition is our strong suit, and I don’t think anybody can stop us in transition.”
Guard Skyy Clark
On sharing the backcourt with Donovan Dent…
“It’s big time. When I made the decision to come here, that was the first thing I did was call him (Dent). That’s my brother for real, and I’m so happy to have him here with me.”
On winning the first three games by 40-plus points…
“It’s been amazing that we’ve been winning like this. We didn’t have the summer as a full team and didn’t have as much time as other teams, so we’re still gelling together as a unit.”
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Louisiana Tech Head Coach Talvin Hester
Assessment of the team's performance…
“I’ll take the blame for this. One of my biggest fears was our experience. We have a bunch of guys that have never seen this level. I don’t think they realized how athletic and how hard guys at this level play, and maybe that’s my fault for not getting us prepared for that. My approach was to loosen our guys up, and not let them play uptight, but the reverse happened. I felt like when things started happening, we got tight and couldn’t adjust. I’ll take the blame for that. We just have to understand it’s another level. You know, we have a bunch of junior college and D-II guys, but I was proud of them.
“We did fight in the rebound battle, but what I am disappointed in is we turned the ball over 23 times. I think it was our carelessness and not playing together. When you don’t play together and you don’t do what you practice, those things happen. Then our lack of willingness to share the ball. Four assists on 18 baskets is not how we looked in the first few games. I understand the opponent changes, but four assists was just really egregious. We will go back to the drawing board and watch the film. At the end of the day, everything we watch we can learn from and use. Next time we get in a situation like this, hopefully our players will be more prepared, and that’s on me.”