Tiger offense overwhelms Tarleton St. in easy win

By Hunt Palmer

THE STORY

LSU found an early offensive rhythm, making eight of its first nine shots, and held Tarleton State at arm’s length in the second half to cruise to a season-opening, 96-60, victory Wednesday night.

UNLV transfer Dedan Thomas Jr. controlled the early pace for LSU and set his teammates up beautifully. He finished with eight assists, constantly prodding the Texan defense and finding open Tigers both in transition and in the half court.

Max Mackinnon caught two early Thomas feeds for open threes to kick start his 19-point night to lead all scorers.

LSU assisted on 13 of 16 first half field goals and shot a blistering 76 percent from the floor before intermission to open up a 16-point lead. That lead swelled to 25 after five minutes of the second half, and Tarleton State never got closer. Instead, LSU kept piling on, finishing with a scolding hot 70% field goal percentage for the game. That was the second time in Pete Maravich Assembly Center history the Tigers eclipsed 70 percent. It’s just the third time since 1958 that LSU has accomplished the feat.

Five Tigers reached double figures including forwards Jalen Reed (11) and Robert Miller (10) off the bench.

If there was an early issue, LSU’s defense allowed some rim runs by the Texans that forced help defense and allowed some easy offensive rebounds. Tarleton State had nine of those before the half which led to six second chance points. The Texans only grabbed three offensive rebounds in the second half.

THE STATS

LSU shot 16-for-21 (76%) in the first half including 11-for-12 (92%) from two-point range.

Max Mackinnon: 19 pts, 6-7 FG, 4-5 3pt, 3-3 FT, 5 ast

DJ Thomas: 16 pts, 6-7 FG, 0-1 3pt, 4-4 FT, 8 ast, 2 TO

Mike Nwoko: 8 reb, 3 blocks in 18 minutes.

LSU assisted on 21 of 31 FG. The Tigers only topped 21 assists twice last season in 32 games.

LSU shot 33-47 (70%) from the floor.

LSU committed 15 turnovers which led to 12 Texan points.

LSU was 22-23 at the rim.

Ten Tigers played double-digit minutes, and none played at least 27.

LSU missed 14 shots and had seven offensive rebounds.

This was win No. 200 for Matt McMahon in his career.

THE QUOTES

Mackinnon on his offensive game…

“I think I’m more than a shooter. I’m able to get downhill, play on two (feet). I think coming from Australia we learn that at such a young age. Play on two, being smart. I’m not the fastest guy, but I feel like I’ve got a good IQ. I’m a passer, defender, and I feel like I can do what I want.” 

Thomas on the team’s chemistry…

“This group has made it so easy. It’s like a breath of fresh air playing with them. Everyone knows how to make plays. Everyone is about winning. Everyone can do a lot of different things, so they make it easy on me. The hit open shots. They make plays on their own. They get me open.” 

Matt McMahon on the new faces meshing in game one…

“I think it’s just a credit to the players. We tried to be very intentional in who we identified and who we targeted in the portal this past spring. Defensive rebounding and passing were two areas we thought we going to be critical to us. We’re still trying to figure out what’s going to translate when you go up a level here in the SEC, so we tried to be very intentional in acquiring positional size, not only in the frontcourt, but also on the wing. And then just being intentional about our time outside of basketball, and these guys have done a tremendous job there. Obviously, this is just game one. We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s been a real joy to coach this group.”