LSU's stifles Stetson early, rolls to 99-53 win

BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU Tigers shot a season-high 53.8 percent from the floor and 45.2 percent from 3-point range in a wire-to-wire 99-53 victory over Stetson Tuesday night at the Maravich Center.

The Tigers held the Hatters scoreless for roughly 10 minutes to open the game, jumped out to a 17-0 lead, and never looked back. LSU went into the half with a 37-point lead and held Stetson to 10 points in the first half, the fewest points by an LSU opponent in a half since 1959. LSU led by as many as 49 points in the game.  

LSU improves to 9-2 on the season, while Stetson falls to 1-10. LSU also improves to 6-0 this season when shooting over 50.0 percent, and 7-0 when opponents shoot less than 40.0 percent.

The Tigers’ final game before Christmas will be at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 21 against UNO inside the Maravich Center.

Cam Carter and Vyctorius Miller led the team with 16 points each. Cater was 6-of-10, including two 3-pointers, and logged three assists and a steal, and Miller was 5-of-8 overall, including a flurry of four triples in the second half. Corey Chest turned in his second double-double in three games with a career-high 13 points (6-of-9) and pulled down 10 rebounds, marking his fifth consecutive game with double-digit rebounds. Dji Bailey had 14 points, and Curtis Givens III had 12 and a team-high six assists with two steals to round out the top scorers for the Tigers.

Stetson missed its first 10 shots from the floor, and LSU capitalized by taking a 10-0 lead capped by a 3-pointer from Carter that forced an early timeout for the Hatters at the 14:51 mark. The Tigers’ defense forced a shot clock violation out of the timeout and continued to suffocate the Hatters’ offense as the visiting club went into the under 12-minute media timeout trailing LSU 15-0, shooting 0-of-16 from the field.

After Robert Miller made two free throws to stretch the lead to 17, Stetson scored its first field goal with 10:19 on the clock before the Tigers responded with an 8-0 highlighted by triples from Jordan Sears and R. Miller, making the score 25-2 with 7:35 remaining in the half.

The Fighting Tigers’ run increased to 12 unanswered points – their second-longest run of the half, and ultimately went into the locker room with a 47-10 lead behind a 30-8 run to end the opening half. LSU shot 50.0 percent from the field (16-of-32), including 40.0 percent from behind the arc (6-of-15), while holding Stetson to a 12.9 field goal percentage on 4-of-31 shooting.

Stetson scored eight of the first 11 points in the second half to cut the deficit to 32 points, but that was as close as the margin would get as LSU pushed its lead to 38 after Chest scored his seventh point of the frame, putting LSU ahead 59-21 at the 15:07 media timeout. The Tigers’ largest lead came late in the second half at 99-50 with 1:12 remaining to play as they cruised to victory, outscoring the Hatters 52-43 in the second half.

LSU finished with a season-high 48 rebounds, highlighted by a season-best 34 defensive rebounds, keeping the Hatters possessions short. The Tigers also outscored the Hatters 19-3 in second-chance points, 42-18 in paint points, 40-20 bench points and 21-1 in fastbreak points.

Stetson concluded the game shooting 30.5 percent (18-of-59) from the floor and 32.0 percent from 3-point range (8-of-25).

Mehki Ellison led Stetson with 23 points on 9-of-18 shooting and was 4-of-8 from the 3-point line. Jordan Wood added 10 points for the Hatters.  

*LSU press release

LSU postgame quotes

Head coach Matt McMahon

Opening Statement…
“I was really pleased with our guys’ preparation the last two days, coming off the tough loss on Saturday. I thought the first half defensive effort was awesome. I thought we really connected as one, contested every shot, made everything they got really difficult. I don’t remember being a part of a 10-point half like that before, so I was really pleased there. Then offensively, I thought this was the most unselfishness that we played with. We were able to get in the paint instead of forcing tough shots. I thought we kicked it out, shared the ball, got some open looks from the three. I really believe in our ability to shoot three. We haven’t shot it at the level we are capable of at this point, and I thought because of the unselfishness, we got higher quality shots, 23 assists and made 14 three’s. Lastly, (LSU Forward) Corey Chest, his fifth straight double figure rebounds, he did it in less than 20 minutes. His energy and effort is just awesome to watch. Then, I was thrilled with our bench. I thought (Guard) Vyctorius (Miller), who was struggling a little bit from behind the arc while still scoring the ball very effectively, was able to get it going tonight. (Guard) Curtis (Givens III) comes in – six assists, only one turnover. I thought (Forward) Rob Miller was awesome on the defensive end. And then (Forward) Derek Fountain, six rebounds, got us three open three’s as well; I thought he really had a great impact on winning.”

On team progression…
“We really look at this window, I guess we are two-and-a-half weeks out now from the start of the SEC play. We’ve got to get better. There’s got to be an urgency and a purpose that we work with on a daily basis to get there. As I evaluate our team a third of the way through the season, the greatest area where there’s a return on our investment is in defensive rebounding and offensively, ball security; taking care of the basketball, I don’t think it’s a secret. The numbers are the numbers, so we have to be very intentional there and make progress. Also, there’s certainly no excuses we are just a different team now without Jalen Reed (injured). Some of the things that we did offensively, doesn’t mean we still can’t be a very good basketball team but we have to make some adjustments and play a little differently. So, these opportunities to get game action is just priceless and we are just trying to be very intentional and just keep getting better.”

Freshman Guard Vyctorius Miller
On the defensive success in the first half…
“I would just say just our attention to detail. Just following the coaches’ plans. You know they do a good job of knowing how to attack a game and then that’s what we did today. We just followed the plan and we just came out strong on defense and then it showed in the first half.”

Senior Guard Cam Carter
On picking up a win following the loss to SMU…
“It was great for us. You know, the loss to SMU I think is something that we needed, because I feel like winning a lot in a row, you kind of get a little comfortable and you know you get used it. Sometimes, you need to get hit in the mouth like that. And I think it was a good building game for us.”

On how tough it is to stay locked in after a successful first half…
“You know, you just gotta keep your foot on their necks. I mean that’s really it. You know, like I said, it was a building game for us because I mean there’s been games, you know, where we came out in the second half and you know we ain’t lock in. You know, they got a lot of shots up in the second half and they made a lot of shots but you know I still think we kind of were disciplined but not as disciplined in the first half.”
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