LSU pulls out 77-68 win over Charleston Southern Tuesday night

BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU Tigers rallied back and pulled away in the second half behind 14 unanswered points to defeat Charleston Southern 77-68 at the Maravich Center Tuesday night.

After trailing in the first half, the Tigers outscored the Buccaneers 48-34 in the second half.

LSU improves to 4-0 this season, while Charleston Southern falls to 1-5. The Tigers will head to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, for the Greenbrier Tipoff which will begin on Friday at 1:30 p.m. CT against Pittsburgh. LSU will conclude the weekend with a game against either UCF or No. 19 Wisconsin on Sunday.

Vyctorius Miller dropped a season-high 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting and had two steals. Miller scored 13 of his points in the first half. Jordan Sears led the charge in the second half with 12 points and finished the game with 15 to go along with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Dji Bailey rounded out LSU’s double-figure scorers with 11 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting from the floor and had three rebounds.   

Tuesday’s game featured 12 ties and 15 lead changes, and both teams were almost even in time with the lead. Charleston Southern was aggressive in the first half, winning the battle on the boards 26-20, including a 13-7 advantage on the offensive glass that led to 11 second-chance points compared to LSU’s three. The Buccaneers shot 36.1 percent from the floor (13-36) and 25.0 percent from behind the arc (3-12) to build a 34-29 lead at the half.

LSU, which shot 37.0 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, shot an impressive 62.5 percent (20-32) in the second half while keeping the Buccaneers to a 36.7 field goal percentage. LSU scored the first five points of the second half, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Sears to knot the score at 34. With the score tied at 45, the Buccaneers matched their largest lead of the game at 50-45 before Cam Carter knocked down a triple while being fouled to cut the deficit to 50-48 with 13:17 on the clock.

After two free throws by CSU’s Derrick Harris Jr., Miller connected on a fadeaway jumper and a layup, and Corey Chest’s tip-in dunk gave LSU a 54-52 lead with 11:47 left to play. LSU then exploded for a 14-0 run and held Charleston Southern scoreless for six minutes to build a 70-58 lead with 3:43 left to play, marking the game’s largest lead and best scoring run.

The Buccaneers forced two turnovers and pulled within five points at 72-67 behind a 7-0 run, but Chest got the crowd back on its feet by throwing down an alley-oop from Sears with a minute and a half to play. Carter iced the game with a steal and dunk, giving LSU a 77-68 victory.  

The Buccaneers had a trio of double-digit scorers, led by Daylen Berry’s double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Taje’ Kelly finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, and RJ Johnson had 14 points and three assists.

LSU shot 50.8 percent from the floor (30-59), while Charleston Southern connected on 36.4 percent of its shots. Both teams pulled down 42 rebounds, and Charleston Southern held the edge in second-chance points 21-10, but LSU won the battle in the paint 42-32 and dominated from the bench, outscoring CSU 34-8.

Post-game Quotes

COACH MATT MCMAHON

Opening Statement…
“Great credit to Charleston Southern. I thought they really came in here and were the aggressor in the first half. We knew going in they were over 15 offensive rebounds a game and they played with great effort on the offensive boards. We knew we’d be tested there. Obviously, we didn’t get the job done at the level we wanted to on the offensive rebounds. I thought our first shot defense was good you hold them to 36% from the floor, 28% from three, and then offensively some of their ball screen coverages bothered us a little more than expected, but at the end of the day you give credit to our players. I thought they continued to fight and scrap. They were playing some guys heavy minutes. We were able to wear them down, get out some stops, get out in transition and get some easy baskets. I can’t say enough about (LSU Guard) Vyctorius Miller. I thought he really carried us in the first half. We probably would have been down 15 at the half without him on the floor. I thought he did a lot of great things and then I thought (LSU Guard) Jordan Sears and (LSU Guard) Dji Bailey were terrific in the second-half but it’s good win we’ll take it. Happy to start the year 4-0 and now we have a great opportunity this weekend. I think the field is loaded in West Virginia. Pitt (Pittsburgh) to me is a top-25 team in the country and they have elite point guard play. Very experienced and so it’ll be a great test force us on the road.”

On overcoming the poor free-throw shooting …
“Obviously you have to make the free-throws. We’ve been almost 80% on the year. Here, we had one half where we were 7-of-14 and now a second-half today where we’re 5-of-11 and including a front end. Thankfully, Jalen Reed made a great play to get the offensive rebound there. I think usually in these upsets, there’s a panic that sets in and I thought our guys did a good job of just moving on to the next play. Charleston Southern was playing really well. I thought we were able to wear them down a little bit. They were using (Charleston Southern Forward Taje’) Kelly who’s a terrific player, (Charleston Southern Guard Daylen) Berry and (Charleston Southern Guard RJ) Johnson those three had heavy usage and I thought they played very well, but I thought when we were able to make that run and push the lead to double figures fatigue set in a little bit there.”

LSU Players

LSU Guard Vyctorius Miller
On adjusting to the college game…
“First thing is that it starts off in practice. I feel like I’ve been stacking great days in practice. Then, it leads out onto the court. My teammates build confidence in me and they know what I can do. So, it’s been easy.”

On how confident he’s playing…
“It’s really that you just got to stay down until you come up. I feel like when the moment is there, that’s when I rise above all. So, that’s what I did today.”

LSU Guard Jordan Sears
On the acrobatic pass in the second half…
“Honestly, it was just a hustle play. It was great defense by (LSU Forward) Corey (Chest) and Dame (LSU Forward Daimion Collins). We blocked the shot and I just tried to make the hustle play and keep the ball in play to keep our momentum going. I don’t know how it got to VJ (Vyctorius Miller) but it was a great play, a great sequence. We needed it.”

On Vyctorius Miller…
“Credit to VJ. He comes in and works every day. Early morning shots or whatever, anything we need. He comes in and does that every day and I feel like it’s really starting to show. So, credit to him.”

Charleston Southern Head Coach Saah Nimley

On the long road stretch…
“We’ve just got to stay together. We’ve got a tough stretch. This is the first of four in a really tough stretch and we just want to come out here and play a lot better on the defensive end and I think we took a step forward in that direction.”

On guard Daylen Berry’s strong production…
“Well, Daylen’s a really good player. He plays basketball the right way. He shoots when he’s open. He makes plays for other guys. He defends his butt off every possession. He’s just a really good player with a really high IQ and high feel for the game.”

On finishing strong in remaining non-conference games…
“We defend. We continue to buy into the defensive end and we trust that that will create the results that we want.”

*LSU press release