It was a blowout win for the LSU men’s basketball team in its preseason scrimmage against NAIA Loyola (New Orleans) on Tuesday night. The Tigers won 110-48 as they seek to push for an NCAA tournament berth in Matt McMahon’s third season.
Newcomers shined in the win, with transfer guards [autotag]Cam Carter[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Sears[/autotag], both starters, leading the team with 21 points and 16 points, respectively. LSU split minutes fairly evenly, resulting in seven total players scoring in double figures.
Freshman [autotag]Robert Miller III[/autotag] and [autotag]Daimion Collins[/autotag], who missed most of last season due to injury, led the team with nine rebounds apiece.
“Good way to start the exhibition season here,” McMahon said in a release. “From an offensive standpoint I liked it when we were sharing the basketball, balls popping around, guys stepping up knocking down, a lot of good looks from behind the three-point line. I thought in the first half we were able to be disruptive on the defensive end. Think you saw the experience of Jordan Sears, Dji Bailey, and Cam Carter. We talked about it in media yesterday. Over 7,000 minutes of college experience for those three guys. Happy to see them get their first game under their belts in the PMAC.”
It was an impressive performance for the Tigers offense, which shot 55.7% in the game and was aggressive from three-point range, connecting on 18 of 37 attempts.
The defense also dominated, holding Loyola under 30% shooting while forcing 19 turnovers. Those turnovers resulted in 25 points going the other way for LSU.
“I think we were able to make them uncomfortable in the first half with the pressure,” McMahon said. “They do a nice job executing offensively and we were able to get them out of their spots. And what we ended up doing was forcing a lot of contested jump shots on the perimeter. We did a solid job on the defensive glass which enabled us to get out in transition and take advantage of our speed and quickness. I thought that was all activated by the defensive pressure on the ball.”
It was a nice showing for the Tigers, who were also without [autotag]Derek Fountain[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyrell Ward[/autotag] for precautionary reasons, as well as transfer [autotag]Noah Boyde[/autotag], who continues to recover from a torn ACL last December.
McMahon’s squad will begin the regular season against ULM next Wednesday.
Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.
Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno
