Mickey Lifts LSU Past Sam Houston St.

Article by Matt Dunaway Photo by Steve Franz, LSU Athletics Staff Photographer
BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team continued its winning ways after its final exam break and secured its fourth straight victory behind Jordan Mickey’s 21 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks to claim a 76-67 win over Sam Houston State Saturday at the Maravich Center.

For Mickey, he was 9-of-21 from the floor. It was his fifth double-double on the season. Mickey did a majority of his damage during the opening half where he racked up 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Keith Hornsby tacked on 13 of his 16 points in the second half. He was 6-of-12 shooting highlighted by a trio of three-pointers.

Jarell Martin nearly compiled a double-double with 14 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks. With LSU ahead 61-58 at the 4:05 mark, Martin drained a critical three-pointer to enable the Tigers to score 15 of the game’s final 24 points down the stretch.

Off the bench, Tim Quarterman chipped in a solid all-around effort with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Jalyn Patterson filled in for Josh Gray for a majority of the second half. He tacked on four points, five rebounds and three assists.

LSU has won all five games on the 2014-15 season by a margin of 11.6 points per game when the Tigers have had four players secure 10-plus points.

The Tigers (7-2) were 26-of-61 from the floor with 16 assists and 16 of its 26 field goals coming inside the paint. LSU also registered a 5-for-13 mark from three-point territory and knocked down 19-of-26 at the free throw line.

Sam Houston State (5-4) tallied a 25-for-73 shooting clip which included an 8-for-23 mark on three-pointers. The Bearkats were 9-of-15 at the charity stripe and held a 50-42 rebounding advantage. SHSU was led by Jabari Peters’ 15 points. 

LSU built a 9-4 advantage and connected on four of its first six shots during the opening four minutes of the contest. Hornsby buried a three-pointer late in the shot clock followed by Mickey jump hook, a John Odo layup and a Mickey midrange jumper on an inbounds play.

LSU misfired on nine of its next 11 shots which enabled Sam Houston State put together 17 of the next 21 points over the next 6:10 off the clock. The Bearkats grabbed a 21-13 edge with 8:39 remaining on a Kaheem Ransom three-pointer.

The Tigers regrouped and drew even at 26-26 after a Mickey bucket off a Hornsby assist. Mickey completed the traditional three-point play to vault LSU ahead 27-26 at the 3:52 mark. Mickey put the finishing touches on his 16-point half by going coast-to-coast capped by a one-handed slam as LSU would take a 34-31 lead going into halftime.

LSU maintained its advantage for the entire second half. Hornsby and Martin sank trifectas 38 seconds while Hornsby added another driving layup to put the Tigers up 44-36 with 16:38 left. 

Sam Houston State would get the game inside one possession four times, the latest at 61-58 with 4:05 to go which led into Martin’s three-ball from the left wing.

Martin and Quarterman tacked on layups with Quarterman’s turning into an old fashion three-point play. The Tigers would arrive at the winner’s circle, 76-67, on the strength of an 8-for-9 clip at the free throw line inside the final 91 seconds of the game.

LSU travels to UAB for its final non-conference road game on Thursday. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. from Bartow Arena, and the game will be televised by the CBS College Sports Network.

The LSU Sports Radio Network also will broadcast the game on Eagle 98.1 FM in the Baton Rouge area and inside the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net/live. Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and Kevin Ford will call the action.

Football Trio Garners All-SEC Freshman Team Honors

Article by Matt Dunaway. Photo by Madeline VeZain, LSU Photography Intern

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – LSU safety Jamal Adams, wide receiver Malachi Dupre and running back Leonard Fournette earned spots on the All-SEC Freshman Team as announced Thursday by the league office.

The teams were voted upon by the SEC's 14 head coaches who were unable to vote for their own players. LSU's three selections were tied with Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee for the conference lead. The Tigers have had 20 players secure All-SEC Freshman-Team accolades during the Les Miles era.

Adams collected 56 tackles which is sixth on LSU's defense, and he started two of the final three games of the season. He garnered eight tackles on two occasions, most recently at Texas A&M. Adams also was a valuable member of LSU's special teams where he tallied a team-leading nine stops. He was named a captain for the ULM game, the first freshman to earn that honor under Miles. 

Dupre hauled in 14 receptions for 318 yards and five touchdowns. The five TDs are the most for a LSU true freshmen receive since Michael Clayton registered six scores in 2001. He caught a season-high four passes for a season's best 120 yards and two touchdowns against Mississippi State. He was the first LSU player to catch two-plus TDs during a SEC opener since Josh Reed at Auburn in 2000 and is one of 10 freshmen nationally with multiple TD catches in the same game.

Fournette, a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week honoree, amassed a team-leading 891 rushing yards on 176 carries and eight rushing touchdowns. His 891 yards are third most by a LSU freshman only behind Dalton Hilliard (1982 – 901 yards) and Justin Vincent (2003 – 1,001 yards). Fournette registered a quartet of 100-yard rushing games highlighted by 146 yards at Texas A&M. He also serves as LSU's primary kickoff returner and averages 126.8 all-purpose yards per game which ranks fourth in the SEC.

No. 22 LSU will make its first trip to the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl on Dec. 30 when the Tigers face Notre Dame in Nashville, Tenn. Kickoff from LP Field is slated for 2 p.m. CT.

Tickets to the bowl game are on sale at www.LSUtix.net. Tickets in the lower section of LP Field, which is the home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans, are $85, while club level seats are $120. All tickets include a processing fee.

For more information, call the LSU Ticket Office at 225-578-2184.

LSU Women's Hoops to Take on Louisiana Tech

Posted by Louisiana Gazette. Photo by:Steve Franz, LSU Athletics Staff Photographer
BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s basketball team returns to the hardwood and faces off with Louisiana Tech Wednesday evening as the Lady Tigers play their final game before a 10-day break for final exams. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:02 p.m., and the game will be nationally televised by the SEC Network. Louisiana Tech (2-2) has split its opening four games on the season and collected road victories over Stephen F. Austin and Alabama A&M. The Lady Techsters are coached by Tyler Summitt, son of Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt. Whitney Frazier has garnered a team-leading 14.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. She has connected on 42.0 percent of her field goals. JaQuan Jackson has chipped in 10.8 points and 2.2 assists per game. “After our trip to Mexico, we wanted to get back to the United States. We’ve had three very intense practices since returning,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “We’ve been very competitive in our practice. We’ve seen a lot of great strides as far as getting better in some areas that have challenged us. I feel as though offensively we’ve done a nice job in being more efficient in the half court which is an area that we’ve struggled in. Defensively, we’ve really worked at changing up our defense and being very consistent on our full court pressure as well. We feel like that has been a strength of ours. We’re looking forward to finally getting back to action tomorrow against a very good Louisiana Tech basketball team.”