LSU Men's Basketball wins opener, NIT this week

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By Benjamin Holtzman

The LSU Men's Basketball team convincingly won Friday's season opener against UL-Monroe 82-62, led by 23 points from guard Bo Spencer, 15 points from forward Tasmin Mitchell, and a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds from sophomore Storm Warren.

LSU got off to a great start establishing a 14-0 lead and even though UL-M got as close as 40-32 at the beginning of the 2nd half, LSU maintained a double-digit lead for almost the entire game.

Spencer, who was the third leading scorer on last year's squad, is expected to play a much larger role in the offense this year and he definitely delivered against UL-M. Spencer also had five assists in the win.

As expected, LSU depended on significant contributions from its two star players, Bo Spencer and Tasmin Mitchell against UL-M. Mitchell and Spencer played at a level that they were expected to play at, with Mitchell hitting half of his shots and Spencer running the offense effectively with Chris Bass. Also, it was evident and encouraging witnessing the younger and less experienced players, such as Storm Warren and Chris Bass, play amazingly well like they did Friday night.

When all the pieces of the puzzle come together like that, LSU will be a competitive team. A season filled with team performances like such could result in an upper-tier finish in the SEC Conference.

Coach Trent Johnson spoke about Mitchell and Spencer's playing time following the game, "Tasmin and Bo know that 35 minutes or more every game. They're going to have to play through a lot of conditioning."

Coach Johnson also discussed Storm Warren's performance, saying, "Storm was in a situation at the four where he had a strength advantage. Obviously, he works extremely hard with rebounding and that's what we need and expect from him."

Following this week's NIT season-opening tournament, LSU plays UL-Lafayette at the PMAC on December 1st at 6:30 pm. LSU's most notable games happen consecutively, as they travel to play Washington State on December 22nd, to Cincinnati to play Xavier on the 29th of December, and then back at the PMAC to face Utah.

LSU was defeated by both Xavier and Utah last season, so those will be key games to capitalize on. Other than those games, the non-conference schedule includes other in-state opponents such as Nicholls State and McNeese State.

SEC conference play will begin on January 9th when the Tigers take on the Alabama Crimson Tide at the PMAC at 4 pm. The most important conference win this year for LSU could likely be on February 6th when LSU has home court advantage against new coach John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats and their highly touted freshman guards, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe. If Friday night's game was any indication, LSU is capable of another above-average campaign.

Originally Published: Issue 824 - November 18, 2009

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