Will Baker scores 29 in LSU's season-opening win

BATON ROUGE, La. – Will Baker recorded a career-high 29 points in the 106-60 victory over Mississippi Valley State Monday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The win marks the tenth consecutive season-opening victory for LSU and the first 100-point scoring game since 2021.

LSU (1-0) will host their second game this week at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10 versus Nicholls. Tickets are available at LSUtix.net. 

Will Baker finished the game shooting 10-of-11 from the floor, added a pair of 3-point field goals, and was 7-of-8 at the free-throw line in the 2023-24 season debut. Baker, who scored 21 points in the first half, also pulled down five rebounds and had one assist and one block. 

Jordan Wright knocked in 12 points and had a game-high four steals, while Daimion Collins and Tyrell Ward each contributed 11 points. 

Rayquan Brown led Mississippi Valley State (0-1) with 17 points, and Arecko Gipson and Donovan Sanders followed with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Overall, LSU shot 57.6 percent from the floor (34-of-59) and 53.6 percent from 3-point range (14-of-26). The Tigers held the Delta Devils to a 38.2 field goal percentage and forced 22 turnovers that they converted into 35 points. LSU had 12 steals in the game and outscored Mississippi Valley State 20-9 in fastbreak points.

LSU got off to a fast start as they led Mississippi Valley State 9-2 behind a 6-0 run and increased its margin to 26-9 with 11:12 on the clock in the first half. The Delta Devils trimmed the Tigers lead down to 10 at 28-18, highlighted by a 7-0 run, but LSU elevated its intensity and went into the half with a 56-29 lead. Monday marked 93 consecutive wins for LSU when leading by 20 or more points at halftime since 1966-67.

The Tigers’ defense held Mississippi Valley State to 1-of-5 shooting to open the second half and kept its offensive pace by making six of their first 10 attempts to balloon the score to 72-34 at the 15:25 mark. The Tigers grew their lead to as many as 53 points as they cruised to the 106-60 victory.

LSU’s last 100-point scoring game was a 101-39 win over ULM on Nov. 9, 2021. The Tigers improved to 95-21 in season openers and increased their active streak to 18 games when shooting 50 percent or better in a game. 

*LSU press release

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Jordan Wright on Will Baker’s outing

“It was a great performance, the way he was patient in the post. We knew to get the ball to him and good things were going to happen. We see it everyday. It was a great game but it’s no surprise to me. I expect him to continue to do that and show his offensive capabilities and we’re going to continue to ride him this season.”

Will Baker on his big night

“My teammates were looking inside for me. I had the size mismatch down low, so credit for my teammates. Even if I got double teamed it creates opportunities for others so it’s a win-win either way.”

Jordan Wright on what he liked from tonight’s win

“Our defensive intensity [was good]. The way we flew around in our press, I liked the way we competed on that end. There’s room for improvement rebounding wise to limit second chance points moving forward when we play SEC teams. I like the intensity we came out with and on offense we let the ball decide who was going to have a great night, but we need to improve in the rebounding aspect.”

Matt McMahon opening statement

“Great way to start off the season. Really appreciate all the fans and the students that came out tonight. Love the unselfishness and effort our guys played with. Like I said good way to start things off. I thought shot selection was good. Had seven turnovers in the first half and a lot of unforced errors. We went about twelve minutes there in the second half without a turnover, so I was excited to see that improvement. I think defensively we were able to be disruptive with the press and some of the defensive concepts. This pointed at our defensive rebounding. Too many offensive rebounds allowed and that will be an area we work in practice as we start preparing for Nicholls State on Friday night. Excited to go 1-0 and looking forward to getting to play in the PMAC again Friday night at seven.” 

On settling the team down in a timeout when LSU’s lead was cut to ten…

“I thought we just lost focus there for whatever reason. We took a couple of questionable shots that put us at a disadvantage in transition defense. Missed a couple of defensive assignments that lead to that little 7-0 run and wanted to use our timeout there to get us locked back in to what needed to happen on the floor. Also, they had switched at that point from zone defense to the man to man and really wanted to establish Will Baker in the post and thought the guys did a great job executing out of that time out and got Will a lot of easy touches down there in the post where they were playing him one on one.” 

On Will Baker’s role for this season compared to KJ Williams… 

“I am not big on comparing players, but I know certainly with the loss of KJ Williams we wanted to identify an experienced front-court player who was not only a skilled and effective guy in the post but, could step out and shoot the ball in the perimeter. I thought you saw all of that from Will Baker tonight. He’s also a really good passer out on the post. We wanted to get him established. One thing that he did a little more tonight that I hadn’t seen a ton of was his shot fake on the perimeter and our spacing was good. He was able to get downhill to the rim and have a couple of really nice finishes there.”