The LSU Tigers (2-0) took care of business on Thursday night against the Samford Bulldogs (1-2) with a 105-86 victory thanks to a solid performance from Brandon Sampson and Skylar Mays.
The Tigers came out the gates fast with a 19-5 run to get out to a strong start against Samford. It continued to be all LSU in the first half, getting out to a 57-28 lead at the break after Christen Cunningham for Samford nailed a jumper with one second left on the clock.
However it wasn’t all positive for the Tigers as they wound up allowing 58 points in the second half. LSU head coach Will Wade let his frustrations be known about this defense after the game.
“Second half, just terrible,” Wade said. “58 points. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen someone give up 58 points in a half. That’s what you should give up in a game. Just real disappointing. Our point-of-attack defense, our ball-screen defense, a lot of threes we gave up. I was embarrassed. We couldn’t get off the court quick enough. … If that doesn’t improve, it’ll be a long trip out west.”
LSU will head out west on Monday to take on the Michigan Wolverines in the Maui Invitational with tipoff scheduled for 10:30 pm.
Three Point Play:
Spread the Wealth: If there’s one thing that will give LSU the best chance to win is spreading the ball around. That was a big key for LSU in the win with five players getting into double figures and three more getting at least eight points in the 19 point win. It was even more crucial that both Brandon Sampson and Skylar Mays racked up 20 points apiece.
Improved from the Line: The charity stripe was where the Tigers underperformed throughout the Johnny Jones era. Wade has put an emphasis the importance of free throws and it showed on Thursday, making 19-of-20 free throws. If LSU can keep that going, it’ll be a pretty good season.
Waters Injured: After last week’s strong performance for freshman Tremont Waters, he earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors. He had been hobbled with an ankle injury and it showed on the court with only five points, but he was able to be more of a facilitator with eight assists on the evening which helped the offense find some consistency.
-Clint Domingue