GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
If the LSU basketball team’s KO of Kansas State is any indication of how the Tigers will play in the Southeastern Conference this season, look out.
LSU (3-0) dominated and knocked out a Kansas State team billed as having one of the nation’s top transfer rosters with eight new Division I players via the portal on Thursday night. The Tigers won easily, 76-65, after taking the lead for good midway through the first half, extending that to 12 at the half, and leading by double digits through virtually all of the second half for the most impressive early season victory in coach Matt McMahon’s three seasons at LSU.
LSU WILL LEARN WHAT IT IS AT KANSAS STATE
“This is what you want as a coach,” McMahon said. “No doubt about it. Totally connected team effort tonight. This is what you come to places like LSU for.”
It was LSU’s first win at an opponent’s home court to start the road portion of a season since the Tigers won at No. 13 West Virginia on Nov. 26, 2005. That LSU team ended up at the Final Four. It was also LSU’s first non-conference victory in an opponent’s arena since winning at Texas, 69-67, on Jan. 25, 2020.
The Tigers outrebounded Kansas State, 43-25, and suffocated its offense from midway in the first half on in front of 9,507 at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas. LSU held the Wildcats (2-1) to 37 percent shooting from the field and 23 percent from 3-point range.
“They were shooting 43 percent from behind the arc,” McMahon said. “We held them to 5 of 21.”
Kansas State coach Jerome Tang, who took his team to the Elite Eight just two seasons ago and reached the NIT last year, appeared shellshocked. His team was within 10 points for all of one minute and 18 seconds in the second half before LSU went up 52-40 on a 3-pointer by transfer guard Jordan Sears with 13:46 to go. LSU never trailed by less than double digits the rest of the way.
“I want to thank the fans for showing up. Fans were great,” Tang said. “And I want to apologize that we didn’t give an effort that was worthy of wearing a K-State uniform. And that falls solely on my shoulders. I did not do a very good job of having our guys prepared. Coach McMahon did an unbelievable job, and this was a good, old-fashioned but whooping. So give them all the credit.”
Kansas State had only two players score in double figures – Michigan junior transfer guard Dug McDaniel with 16 and senior forward David N’Guessan with 16.
“I’ll just credit their defense,” Tang said. “They seemed to make everything difficult for us. I have to go watch the film and figure out the why.”
He’ll have a lot of film to watch. LSU had four players score in double figures, and a fifth had double-figure rebounds.
Senior transfer guard Cam Carter, who played the last two seasons at Kansas State, led all scorers with 20 points, including 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.
“It actually was a little bit more emotional than I thought it was going to be to see him and stuff,” Tang said of Carter, who started all 36 games during the Wildcats’ Elite Eight season in 2022-23. “But then it sucked watching him play.”
Carter, who played at East Ascension High in Gonzales, added four rebounds and two assists.
“But I’m happy for him,” Tang said. “He gets to play at home.”
Sears finished with 15 points, including 3-of-7 shooting from 3-point range, and had five assists and two steals. True freshman guard Vyctorius Miller added 15 points and two assists for LSU, which shot 50 percent from the floor (27 of 54). Junior forward Daimian Collins, a transfer last year from Kentucky, added 12 points off the bench. Redshirt freshman forward Corey Chest pulled down 13 rebounds while scoring five points off the bench.
“You can’t get pounded on the glass the way they pounded us on the glass,” Tang said.
LSU true freshman point guard Curtis Givens III had three assists in just seven minutes of reserve play.
“I thought our guys really delivered in all areas of the game,” McMahon beamed. “In the first half, the unselfishness and the ball movement on offense was great. We had 13 assists on 17 baskets for the game. We were efficient there. But I really thought for 40 minutes, we guarded. We guarded at a high level.”
LSU outrebounded Kansas State 21-12 in the first half and led by as many as 17 at 43-26 with 2:04 before halftime.
“I just thought we had a dominant performance on the glass,” McMahon said. “Plus-18 on the glass and just a strong performance. I thought our players really competed at a high level, and we are connected.”
LSU next plays against Charleston Southern (1-2) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.
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