BATON ROUGE, La. – Three LSU Tigers recorded double-doubles as the LSU men’s basketball team cruised past Texas Southern, 92-51, on Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (2-0) extended its non-conference home winning streak to 22 games and improved to 3-0 all-time against Texas Southern (0-2).
The Tigers will wrap up their season-opening three-game home stand with a 7 p.m. CT contest against Louisiana Tech on Monday, Nov. 9, at the Maravich Center.
Saliou Niang recorded his second consecutive double-double, finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds while adding three steals. Michael Ruzic posted a double-double of his own with 12 points and 11 rebounds off the bench, shooting 6-of-7 from the floor and recording two blocks. Donovan Dent rounded out LSU’s double-double performers with 10 points and 10 assists. He also made an impact defensively, recording a career-high four blocks and added three steals. Through his first two games in an LSU uniform, Dent has dished out 20 assists without committing a turnover.
For the second consecutive game, six Tigers finished in double figures. Abdi Bashir Jr. matched Niang for the team lead with 15 points, knocking down four 3-pointers. Mo Dioubate added 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and seven rebounds, while Divine Ugochukwu finished with 10 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting performance, along with five rebounds and a block.
LSU shot 57.1 percent from the floor, connecting on 36-of-63 attempts, but struggled from beyond the arc (5-of-22) and the free-throw line (15-of-25, 60 percent).
Despite its shooting struggles in those areas, LSU controlled the game in the paint, outscoring Texas Southern 62-12, and held a 23-9 advantage in fast-break points. The Tigers also forced 14 turnovers, recording 10 steals that led to 18 points.
Texas Southern shot just 23.7 percent from the field (14-of-59) and connected on seven 3-pointers. Jason Kimbrough Jr. led TSU with 16 points, knocking down four of his five field goals from beyond the arc.
LSU overcame another slow start by putting together a 20-4 run, including 13 unanswered points, to build a double-digit advantage at 27-15. Dent highlighted the stretch with consecutive fast-break layups off steals. After LSU went scoreless for nearly three minutes, Texas Southern capitalized, cutting the deficit to 27-21. The Fighting Tigers responded by scoring 16 of the next 18 points to push their lead to 20 at 43-23 with 1:55 remaining in the half. LSU carried a 47-28 advantage into the break.
The Fighting Tigers continued to pull away after halftime, using a 15-1 run to extend their lead to 80-43 with 5:03 remaining. LSU closed the contest on a 7-0 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from Bashir Jr., to secure the 92-51 victory.