LSU Athletics
By Hunt Palmer
UNO may have sprung the upset of college basketball’s opening week.
Fresh off a win over TCU in Fort Worth, The Privateers invade Baton Rouge Monday night as 20-point underdogs against LSU.
The Tigers destroyed Tarleton State last week to open their season.
UNO was 4-27 a season ago and lost its last 13 games. In February, Percy “Master P” Miller was named President of Basketball Operations. He brought in double-digit newcomers to the roster
LSU underwent a similar overhaul with only two returners in 2025-26.
Tip off is set for 7:00 p.m.
TAKE CARE OF IT
LSU’s biggest problem in the opener was turnovers. Giving the ball up 15 times against an outmanned opponent is too many. Jalen Reed and Michael Nwoko each had three. Those numbers really need to come down.
Dedan Thomas and Jalen Reece committed a pair a piece. That’s not the end of the world as much as those guys handle the ball, but it can be tightened up.
UNO only turned TCU over 10 times last week. Matt McMahon is going to preach ball security to his team entering Monday night’s game.
CROWD COLETON
Coleton Benson wasn’t shy in Fort Worth. The senior transfer from Texas State put up 13 threes, making four, in the win over TCU.
He’s a shooter. Last season he shot 39% from range and made 37 straight free throws at one point. He dropped 22 points in the opener and went 5-for-7 from deep in an exhibition win over Southern-New Orleans.
Benson is the focal point of the UNO offense, and LSU will have to be aware of him at all times. I’m curious who McMahon puts on the 6-foot-2 guard. Is it Max McKinnon simply because of position, or does Pablo Tamba draw that assignment. Both guys have a significant length advantage on Benson.
REECE REPS
DJ Thomas is LSU’s most important player. He’s going to run the show for this team on a nightly basis.
But he can’t be asked to play 38 minutes every night.
Reece, the freshman, is LSU’s second option at point guard, so he’s going to have to be ready to play 6-8 minutes of quality time in SEC games. The best way to prepare for that is significant time against the early portion of this schedule. LSU non-conference is soft.
Last week Reece logged 14:30 of action and scored five points with three assists and a pair of turnovers. I thought he looked much more comfortable in the second half than the first.
Reece is lightning quick and has great potential. He just needs to grow into a niche role on this team so Thomas isn’t ground into a paste over the course of 18 league games.
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