A really good early season win
LSU improved to 3-0 on the young 2024-2025 college basketball season with an impressive 76-65 win over Kansas state Thursday night in Manhattan, the kind of win that NCAA Tournament members will remember come March
Fueled by the efforts of Kansas State transfer Cam Carter’s 20 points and three three-pointers, LSU led for 31 minutes and was up by as many as 17 points.
LSU picked up its first road non-conference win since 2020. Not only that, but LSU stats expert Todd Politz pointed out that this was also the first time a Tiger team won a true road opener since the 2005-2006 season, aka the last time LSU made a Final Four. I’m not saying, I’m just saying…
The last time @LSUbasketball won the 1st road game of a season in its opponent’s arena was Nov. 26, 2005, at #13 West Virginia, where @JohnBrady_Coach‘s Tigers won 71-68 in OT. That #LSU team advanced to the Final Four; WVU to the Sweet 16.
Congrats @coachmcmahon and staff! https://t.co/3Qs6KGrTf4
— Todd Politz (@tpolitz) November 15, 2024
“This is what you come to places like LSU, to play in these types of environments,” Matt McMahon said. “I thought our guys really delivered in all areas of the game. In the first half. I thought the unselfishness and the ball movement on offense was great, 13 assists on 17 made baskets. We were efficient there. But I really thought for 40 minutes. We guarded. We guarded at a high level. We were really concerned coming in. K-State was top 10 in the country in transition scoring. They had zero points in transition.”
Jordan Sears did a little bit of everything with 15 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. True freshman guard Vyctorious Miller got some extended run and scored 15 points in 21 minutes off the bench, while Daimion Collins contributed 12 points off the bench as well.
I wondered aloud in LSU’s win over Alabama State if the Tigers getting out-rebounded by the Hornets was a cause for concern or an anomaly. Well, if Corey Chest can continue to have more nights like Thursday, LSU getting out-rebounded by a bottom tier SWAC school will just be a fluke. Chest had the best game of his young LSU career with 13 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. Final rebounding total? LSU 43, Kansas State 25.
The only thing you can knock LSU for is that they didn’t win by a bigger margin, because the Tigers were pretty sloppy with the ball Thursday night. LSU turned it over 16 times, but Kansas State, thankfully, was only able to score 14 points off of turnovers.
LSU will have a chance to improve to 4-0 this Tuesday when the Tigers host Charleston Southern at 7:00.