By Hunt Palmer
LSU’s final dress rehearsal for the 2024-25 basketball season started fast, 37-4 fast.
LSU overwhelmed Loyola-New Orleans, its NAIA visitors, and cruised to a 110-48, win. The Wolfpack were overmatched at every position on the floor, and the result showed that. LSU head coach Matt McMahon knew that would be the case.
The goal Tuesday was not to put the Tigers through a rigorous test. It was to get into the routine of a gameday with shootaround, pregame meals and meetings, warmups, etc.
The Tigers stayed very vanilla on offense, running four out motion most of the game. It was a lot of dribble-handoff, pick and roll action with freedom. There will be more structure moving forward. The Tigers played straight man-to-man on defense, never really switching or doubling the post. They didn’t show any pressure. That’s coming with the defensive chops some of these veteran guards have. But not on this night.
It was a glorified practice, and it was treated that way.
As for the action on the floor, a few things stood out. Here are my thoughts.
FOR STARTERS
Jordan Sears, Dji Bailey, Cam Carter, Robert Miller III and Jalen Reed were LSU’s starters. With Derek Fountain still progressing through injury, Miller got the nod at the four. The 6-foot-10 freshman got sped up a little bit, forcing the issue. He hoisted two early threes, neither drew iron. Eight minutes later he stumbled trying to drive toward the basket. That’s why you play these games. Miller buried a corner three with eight minutes to play in the game, so he shook it off. I would fully expect Fountain to take more of these minutes when he’s healthy, especially early in the year.
Sears really impressed me. He knew when to get the ball and run. He knew when to back the ball out. Pace is so important in college basketball. Sears has four years of minutes under his belt. LSU will lean on that early, especially as Curtis Givens gets his college legs under him. The unknown with Sears, who is just 5-foot-10, is how he handles 6-foot-3 SEC guards on the perimeter and 6-foot-11 bigs on the block, all of which move much better than the guys he’s seen for four years in the Ohio Valley. We won’t know that for a little while.
In addition to running the show, Sears buried three of his first four threes.
Carter got it rolling in the second half. He made six of his seven field goals including 3-of-4 from deep to scorer 15 of his team-leading 21 after intermission. It was nice to see him score from deep and attack the rim. He’ll probably be asked to take on a little more scoring than he did at Kansas State.
ENERGY AND EFFORT
The score of the game was inconsequential. But McMahon was most concerned with his team’s effort in the game. Holding a college basketball team to 12 first half points takes effort. When you’re bigger, faster and stronger, defensive stops come far easier. This isn’t an endorsement of LSU’s season-long defense. Simply pointing out I do think the guys answered the bell as far as defensive effort goes.
SHOOTING STARS
LSU’s guards combined to make 8-of-14 threes in the first half. Kentucky will probably contest a few more looks than Loyola did….but making open shots is always a positive. The Tigers finished the game 18-for-37 from deep which is far more than you’d like to take in a 40-minute game, but that’s inconsequential for a game like this. Some guys got some confidence, and that’s a good thing.
LSU will open the regular season Wednesday, November 6 at 7:00 when Louisiana-Monroe visits the Assembly Center.
