Double-doubles, Tuba spur Tigers to victory over Miss Valley St 75-50

Both Johnny O’Bryant (11 points, 10 rebounds) and Shavon Coleman (16 points, 11 rebounds) had double-doubles to lead the Tigers (4-0) to a 75 to 50 victory Saturday night over Mississippi Valley State (0-4). Andrew Del Piero, LSU’s 7’3” ex-tuba player, had career highs in minutes (15), points (8), rebounds (5), blocks (3), and badass dunks (1). After the Tigers started an abysmal 1 of 11 from the field, they finished the game shooting over 55% for their highest shooting percentage of the year. They held MVSU to only 28% shooting from the floor.

The Tigers improved their free throw shooting for the 3rd straight game making 14 of 23 for 61% and controlled the lane all night scoring 36 points to MVSU’s 6 in the paint. Shane Hammink got his first career start and pulled the responsibility of guarding MSVU’s Davon Usher who was averaging 25 points per game. Hamminks length really helped him contain the MVSU star and hold him to 9 under his average. Hammink also had 12 points including 2 of 3 from three point range. He is now 5 of 10 on the year from beyond the arc shooting a team high 50%.

Another good game was turned in by LSU’s Andre Stringer who was 3 of 5 from 3 pt range as he tallied a season high 14 points to go along with 2 assists and a steal. The LSU offense was at their finest when in transition. They were able to find the open man and hit down shots at a remarkable pace. They scored 42 second half points and had 16 assists as a team, led by PG Anthony Hickey (6 asts), who came off the bench due to “…not following through and taking care of some personal things that needed to get taken care of…” as per Coach Jones.

The Tigers host Seton Hall, their biggest test so far this season, on Thursday as part of the Big East/SEC challenge on ESPNU at 8:30PM.



Game Highlights

Season Prediction: 17-12, NIT