The LSU Tigers traveled up to Atlanta on Saturday to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. LSU was caught sleeping for most of the first half, but kept it close for the last few minutes. In the second half, the Tigers turned up and defeated the Yellow Jackets 69-53, outscoring them 39-19 to improve to 9-0 to open the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Center Rodney Howard put-back his own missed jumper to give Georgia Tech the lead after the first possession. Xavier Pinson tied the game at three with a made shot from deep almost a full four minutes into the contest. Howard responded with a monster slam and Michael Devoe made his layup attempt to give Tech the 7-3 lead. After Tari Eason made a jump shot, Devoe came back by splashing a three pointer.
Efton Reid redeemed himself and cut it to within three with a made layup with Eason coming up with the assist. The Yellow Jackets counter and went on a 14-3 run. In the run, LSU made one basket in six minutes and turned the ball over five times.
The Tigers came back with a big 12-4 run, including Eason going coast-to-coast with him stealing the pass. All five Tigers on the court scored during the run in the three minute span. The half ended with both teams trading buckets as LSU was down 34-30.
Each team came out of the half looking sloppy and turned it over in the first minute. LSU took their first lead of the game with Pinson being successful on the and-one made layup and Brandon Murray making a three pointer. After Tech tied it back up, the Tigers went on a 10-4 run, including Murray, Aaron Fudge and Eason all getting a dunk in to give LSU the 46-40 and force the Jackets to burn a timeout.
Both teams, the next six minutes, went back-and-forth making shots. In that span, LSU outscored the Jackets 12-6 and forced another timeout to be called from the Georgia Tech bench.
LSU continued to put the pressure on the Yellow Jackets the final few minutes of the game. The defense of the Tigers created more turnovers and capitalized off those takeaways with an 11-7 run before the time reached triple zeroes. The Bayou Bengals improved to 9-0 on the season with a 69-53 win over Georgia Tech.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: TARI EASON
Eason was a monster in the paint, both offensively and defensively as he scored 23 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked a couple of shots.
BIG NUMBER: 45
Both teams turned the ball over a total of 45 times in Saturday evening’s contest. Georgia Tech gave it up 24 times and LSU lost the possession 21 times.
NEXT UP: vs Northwestern State; Tipoff December 14th at 6:00 p.m.