The Johnny Jones era has officially begun.
The LSU Men’s Basketball team defeated the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 77-63 in Johnny Jones’s first regular season game as LSU’s head coach.
Led by senior guard Charles Carmouche’s 16 points and starting forward Johnny O’Bryant III’s 13, the Tigers defeated the Gauchos with fast-paced offense and outside shooting, as four different players made 2 three-pointers.
“We’ve got a team that’s very capable of knocking down the three and spreading the floor,” said Jones, “and our guys were confident with it.”
The Tigers took a 41-32 halftime lead despite losing O’Bryant to a right-leg injury with 7 minutes to go in the first half, who did not return. The injury halted a fantastic game for the sophomore, who had 13 points and 8 rebounds in just 11 minutes of play after being named pre-season All-SEC 2nd team earlier today.
“He said he felt a little strain in his leg,” Jones said, “we’ll evaluate it and see where we stand… on Sunday.”
Sophomore guard Anthony Hickey, seeing his first time this season after sitting out Monday’s exhibition vs. UA Monticello, said his team stepped up in O’Bryant’s absence.
“We came together as a team and played as a whole,” said Hickey, who had 6 points, 6 assists and 7 steals in 28 minutes off the bench.
LSU overcame a miserable performance at the foul line, going just 7-20 from the charity stripe, and the efficient evening of Santa Barbara’s Kyle Boswell. Boswell scored 17 points on 9 shots in 27 minutes, including going 3-6 from behind the arc.
LSU’s continues their 6-game homestand Tuesday at 7 against the McNeese State Cowboys.
Below is the post game press conference with Head Coach Johnny Jones
