LSU has been dominant in three of its four halves to start the season.
The Tigers (2-0) will try to continue their strong start when they play Liberty on Monday night in Baton Rouge, La.
They rolled past Louisiana-Monroe by 62 points in their season opener, but found themselves trailing Texas State 37-32 at halftime Friday.
“In the first half, we played right into their hands,” LSU coach Will Wade said. “We just weren’t playing hard enough. We were hoping they would miss instead of forcing them to miss. We were too passive.”
The Tigers were less passive in the second half and outscored the Bobcats by 30 and finished with an 84-59 victory. They took command with a 38-14 run.
“I can’t really say what I said at halftime,” Wade said. “Obviously, it was a great win.
The second half, we were tremendous. We just weren’t aggressive enough in the first half, and we got going in the second half.”
The Tigers shot 63 percent (17 for 27, including seven of nine 3-pointers) and held Texas State to 32 percent (eight of 25) in the second half.
Liberty was dominant in its season opener Thursday night, scoring the first 14 points, leading 43-12 at halftime and routing Regent 85-24. It was a school record for fewest points allowed.
The Flames outscored Regent 42-14 in the paint and allowed just 20.8 percent (11-53) shooting.
Coach Ritchie McKay was pleased with the way his team shared the ball. Liberty had 24 assists on 33 field goals and shot 56.9 percent (33-58), including 40 percent (12-30) on 3-pointers.
“I thought we played very selflessly,” McKay said. “We didn’t shoot it as well as I think we’re capable of.”
Darius McGhee, the reigning ASUN Player of the Year, scored a game-high 21 points to lead five Liberty scorers in double figures.
“I think we’ve got some depth we can capitalize on. We’ll know more over this four-game stretch that’s ahead of us,” McKay said.
The game against LSU starts a stretch of four consecutive games away from home for the Flames, who will face Iona and Manhattan in the MAAC/ASU Challenge in Orlando before meeting Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Fla.
–Field Level Media
