BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers came out a tad sluggish on Tuesday.
LSU started off the game against the visiting University of Maryland-Baltimore County by turning over the ball, missing open shots, being called for traveling and even a shot clock violation.
The Tigers though overcame that slow start to finish the first half strong and cruise to a 77-50 win over the visiting Retrievers. With the win, LSU improved to 3-1 on the season.
How It Happened:
LSU grabbed the early lead with Javonte Smart draining one of two free throw attempts but that proved to be a short lived advantage. After that Smart free throw, UMBC went on a 9-0 run while LSU missed its first nine field goal attempts.
In fact, LSU did not make a field goal until Darius Days’ putback of a layup with 12:50 left in the first half.
That Days bucket seemed to spark the Tigers on both ends of the floor as LSU went on a 16-8 run which tied the game at 17-17 with 7:35 left in the first half.
The Tigers then took the lead with some stellar above-the-rim play as Skylar Mays threw an alley-oop to Charles Manning who slammed it home. That was followed by a putback dunk by Emmitt Williams which gave LSU a 21-17 lead.
LSU would continue to dominate the rest of the first half as the Tigers made their final 10 shots, and held the Retrievers to only seven points in the final 10 minutes. LSU held a 39-23 lead over UMBC at the half.
LSU continued rolling right along in the final 20 minutes of Tuesday night’s contest as they opened up a 21-point lead outscoring UMBC 15-10 in the first seven minutes of the second half.
LSU would continue to build on that lead and would easily pick up the 27-point victory.
Big Number: 15
After committing 26 and then 25 turnovers in the previous two games (a 84-82 loss to VCU and a 75-65 win over Nicholls), LSU was vastly improved in Tuesday night’s victory as the Tigers committed only 15 turnovers.
Players of the Game: Darius Days & Charles Manning Jr.
Days recorded a double-double (his second of his career) as he pulled down 10 rebounds and scored 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting while also giving the Tigers a spark offensively in the first half. Manning Jr. meanwhile led all scorers with 16 points on 6-fo-8 shooing from the floor.
Next Up: LSU heads to Montego Bay, Jamaica for the Jersey Mike’s Jamaica Classic. LSU takes on Utah State this Friday at 6 p.m. and then plays Rhode Island on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.