Really nice win for the lads
On Sunday the LSU men’s basketball team (9-1) played a neutral site game against a Power 4 opponent from Texas and got humbled by Texas Tech 82-58. Six days later, Matt McMahon’s team was in the exact same situation, only this time LSU flipped the script.
The Tigers picked up its best win of the season, beating SMU 89-77 inside the Smoothie King Center. The Mustangs (9-2) were a top-30 team in the NET coming into tonight so LSU picked up its first Quad 1 win of the season.
The Tigers were in control for the bulk of the game, leading for nearly 34 minutes. The first half was tight, but LSU made its run in the second half and wound up leading by as many as 17 points before winning by a comfortable 12-point margin.
Marquel Sutton had his best game of the season with a game-high 23 points and 12 rebounds, while Max Mackinnon was right behind him with 22. Mackinnon was nearly flawless shooting the ball tonight, hitting 8 of 9 attempts and going 6-7 from three; Mackinnon was responsible for all but one of LSU’s three-pointers tonight.
Dedan Thomas had an excellent night running point for LSU’s offense, scoring 16 points while also handing out a season-high 12 assists.
Despite having just two more rebounds than SMU—and the Mustangs owning a +6 advantage on the offensive glass—LSU had 50 points in the paint against SMU’s 38. LSU also had more turnovers than SMU and only got six points from its bench. To me that says SMU’s lucky to have only lost by 12 points.
This is a nice win for LSU on two fronts: 1) it’s nice that they flushed the disaster that was the Texas Tech game and 2) it’s a nice resumé win for the Tigers. Boston College might have been LSU’s first win over a power conference opponent, but SMU is the Tigers’ first quality win. LSU’s got nine more Quad 1 games looming, so it’s nice to get that first one stashed away.
LSU has three more gimmes at home before SEC play starts. Next up, they’ll play Southeastern Friday night with tipoff set for 7:00 P.M. Then they’ll play Prairie View A&M next Monday, and then close out the non-conference schedule against Southern Miss the Monday after that.
Category: General Sports
