BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers took control of the final non-conference game of the year just past the seven-minute mark of the first half and went on to a dominating 96-55 win over Northwestern State Friday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers finish the non-conference schedule 8-5 and will begin conference play on Saturday, Jan. 6, at Bryan-College Station against the Texas A&M Aggies.
Northwestern State drops to 2-11.
The Tigers, after starting 4-of-11 from the field in the first 8:03 of the game, made 10-of-their-next 12 shots, including 3-of-4 from distance as they used a 16-2 run to go up 39-20 with four minutes to go in the first half.
LSU finished the half making 13-of-17 to shoot 17-of-28 for the opening 20 minutes (60.7%) and 5-of-10 from three-point range in building a 47-21 halftime advantage.
LSU would shoot 61.3 percent in the second half (19-of-31) and 6-of-11 from distance outscoring the Demons, 49-34, in the final 20 minutes. LSU’s biggest lead was 45 points, 88-43, with 4:27 to play in the game.
The Tigers finished the contest making 36-of-59 field goal attempts for 61.0 percent. It marked the first time LSU had shot 60 percent from the floor since Feb. 10, 2021 when LSU shot 61.3 percent (38-62) at Mississippi State.
In all, six Tigers were in double figures led by Mike Williams III who is 21 minutes off the bench hit six three-pointers (6-of-9) in a 20-point performance. Will Baker pushed past 1,000 career points for his playing time at Texas-Nevada-LSU with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Jalen Cook had 13 points and five assists, while Hunter Dean had his first LSU double double with 11 points and 10 boards. Dean was a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor.
Rounding out the Tigers scoring was Derek Fountain with his fifth career double double of 10 points and 10 rebounds and Jordan Wright stretched his double figure scoring streak to 10 with 10 points.
LSU had 22 assists on 36 made buckets and was 11-of-21 from distance (52.4 percent). The Tigers recorded 17 steals off 20 Northwestern State turnovers, leading to a 29-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Tigers for the second straight game were close to single digit turnovers but a late couple of miscues put the Tigers at 11 by game’s end.
LSU had a 38-31 rebound lead and had 50 points in the paint.
Northwestern State was led by Chase Forte and Jimel Lane with nine points apiece. The Demons shot 21-of-59 for the game (35.6%) and made 5-of-21 three-point attempts.
While LSU will open SEC play on the road, the first conference home game will be on Tuesday, Jan. 9, at 8 p.m. against Vanderbilt. Tickets are on sale at LSUTix.net.