The LSU Tigers opened the 2020-21 college basketball season on Thursday evening with a 94-81 win over SIU Edwardsville at the Billiken Classic in St. Louis.
Five-star freshman guard Cameron Thomas had quite the debut for Will Wade’s squad, scoring 27 points in his debut. Thomas hit 10 of his 21 attempts from the field and played 33 minutes.
Junior forward Darius Days scored a career-high 24 points and also pulled down seven rebounds. Days was nine of 11 from the field and connected on four of his six attempts beyond the arc.
The Tigers jumped out to a commanding 26-4 lead in the first 11 minutes of the game. However, SIUE trimmed LSU’s lead to 15 before halftime. The Cougars came out red-hot in the second half, going on a 23-10 run to cut LSU’s lead to two points.
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That’s as close as it would be as the Tigers went on a run of their own to extend their lead back into double digits, where it would remain for the rest of the game.
Sophomore transfer Shareef O’Neal made his LSU debut, playing 13 minutes, scoring three points and pulling down five rebounds.
It will be interesting to see what such a highly touted player can do for the program moving forward.
The Tigers play host, Saint Louis on Saturday.