Robert Miller III was averaging 2.7 points through LSU’s first 23 games this season.
In two of his last four games, he is averaging 17.5 and just turned in the first double-double of his career with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the 79-65 loss to No. 2 Florida on Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
It has taken nearly an entire season, but Miller, a 6-foot-10 forward, is starting to play like the No. 2 player in Texas that he was in the signing class of 2024, according to 247sports.com. The No. 13 power forward in the nation out of Memorial High in Pasadena near Houston, Miller was the No. 81 overall prospect and a four-star player who had much to do with LSU’s class being ranked No. 14.
Miller hit 6-of-8 shots with 2 of 3 from 3-point range and all five of his free throws against Florida. At Arkansas on Feb. 12, he hit 8 of 13 shots for 16 points with four rebounds. LSU (14-13, 3-11 Southeastern Conference) will likely need significant contributions from Miller if they are to upset No. 5 Tennessee (22-5, 9-5 SEC) on Tuesday (8 p.m., SEC Network) at the Assembly Center.
“I’d say mainly it has been my coaches and my teammates just talking to me and instilling the confidence in me to go out there and just do what I know I can do,” Miller said. “Just being able to pay attention to the details and capitalize on that mainly.”
Miller has shown his versatility of late.
“Very skilled,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said Monday. “He’s good in ball-screen offense, because he can roll all the way to the rim and finish. He’s also really good in that mid-range, short roll. And then Saturday, you saw him pick and pop and knock down a couple of threes, which I think will be the next step in his game.”
Miller has also gained 20 pounds since high school and is up to 240.
“He’s a credit to the process – coming in every day and working to get better,” McMahon said. “You see his confidence really growing. He’s been a really good defensive player for us all season long with his ability to protect the rim. He fixes a lot of problems. Very smart on that end of the floor. But here in the last couple of weeks, you’ve seen the offensive side really emerge.”
Tennessee has won five of its last six games, including a 77-69 victory over No. 7 Texas A&M on Saturday. The Vols beat Florida, 64-44, on Feb. 1.
Tennessee is No. 4 in the nation in scoring defense with 60.8 points allowed a game and No. 12 in scoring margin at 13.9. Senior guard Chaz Lanier leads the Vols with 18 points a game.
MATT MCMAHON LOVED CHRIS JACKSON: McMahon is from Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which is 25 miles from the Tennessee campus. Naturally, he was a Tennessee fan and worked as a graduate assistant coach for the Vols in the 2001-02 season after playing and coaching at Appalachian State.
But something happened to the 11-year-old McMahon on Feb. 10, 1990. His dad took him to see No. 11 LSU and a sophomore guard named Chris Jackson to play at Tennessee that Saturday. Jackson scored 49 points with 10-of-20 shooting from 3-point range in a 119-113 Tigers’ win. Jackson hit 14 of 32 shots in all and had eight assists in front of 22,843 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
“I really became an LSU fan at that moment,” McMahon said. “Chris Jackson was my favorite player growing up as a kid. I always tell people he was Steph Curry before Steph Curry – the way he shot the ball off the dribble. Just loved watching him play.”
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