“It was the ultimate team win." Matt McMahon after LSU's win over K-State
LSU put together an impressive all-around performance on Thursday night in Manhattan, Kansas to beat Kansas State 76-65 and improve to 3-0 on the season. Head coach Matt McMahon's team passed their first significant challenge of the year and was firing on all cylinders as they quieted a packed arena and rolled in the win.
Here's everything McMahon said on the LSU postgame radio show after the win.
Overall thoughts on the game..."This is what you come to places like LSU for is to play in these type of environments and I think our guys delivered in every aspect of the game. In the first half, our unselfishness and the ball movement on offense was huge. With 13 assists to seven assists we were really efficient there, but for 40 minutes we guarded at a high level. We were really concerned coming in with Kansas State's transition scoring and at half they had zero points in transition. We were able to take that away. We wanted to defend the three-point line, they were shooting 43 percent as a team and we held them to 5-of-21 behind the arc. Then I thought it was a dominant performance on the glass. We were plus 18 on the glass. Our players competed at a high level and were together as one."
On Derek Fountain's injury and the frontcourt..."It was a fluke deal. In shootaround today he landed wrong and twisted his ankle. He's as tough of a guy as we've got but there was no way he was going to be able to go. We've talked about all fall we really like the length and athleticism of our frontcourt and Daimion Collins ended up 5-of-5 from the floor for 12 points, he ran the floor in transition. Then I really gotta brag on Corey Chest, 13 rebounds in 21 minutes, that ain't easy to do. He played with such energy around the rim and he was our Boot Up Player of the Game for the toughness he provided on the floor."
On Vyctorious Miller's performance..."Practice matters and you're going to play the way you practice and he has had a really good 10-12 days of practice and earned some extended minutes today and took full advantage, 6-of-9 from the floor with just one turnover. The limited minutes Dji was not in the game, we had Vyctorious chasing Haussen and sometimes that's tough for a freshman, but he did a great job on both ends of the court.
On LSU's guards..."Jordan Sears with 15 points, seven boards, five assists, he hit some big shots for us to build the lead. Cam Carter, I can't imagine what he was feeling coming back here. That was one of the coolest things I've seen when he got announced and the crowd gave him a standing ovation. He gets 20 points in his return and he played very composed throughout."
On the team effort..."It was the ultimate team win. Everyone who played really contributed. Curtis Givens came in the first half and has three assists and no turnovers in five minutes. Our fans are starting to see Dji Bailey may not score 20 a game, but he's a winner and he impacts the game on both ends of the floor."
On LSU's offensive gameplan..."Kansas State is a unique defensive team. They like to get you on the sidelines and baseline then they swarm you and put you in bad positions. What we wanted to do was play in middle ball screens. They mixed some coverages there, but our guys did a good job recognizing it and making em pay out of it. I liked our shot diet. We're a better shooting team than 33 percent, but we were 19-of-30 from two and really efficient around the rim. Our guys did a great job following the gameplan. Our assistant coaches did a great job implementing the plan and our players executed tonight."
