The LSU basketball team’s season opener may not have drawn rave reviews, but the Tigers’ 96-74 victory Saturday against Nicholls State made for a successful matinee showing.
Seven Tiger players hit double figures in scoring, fueling a balanced offensive performance that helped LSU exact a measure of revenge against the Colonels, who snapped the Tigers’ 82-game home winning streak against in-state opponents last season.
LSU (1-0) scored 53 points in that defeat. It had 51 points by halftime on Saturday, leading by 11 at the break en route to a second-half blowout.
Freshman point guard Anthony Hickey paced the Tigers, notching a team-high 14 points, five assists and four steals in an impressive backcourt debut.
But he wasn’t the only standout freshman wearing purple and gold.
McDonald’s All-American and heralded recruit Johnny O’Bryant III electrified a modest PMAC crowd with his initial action off the bench.
The freshman entered the game after sitting for the first four minutes of play and promptly recorded eight consecutive points, four rebounds and two exhilarating blocks in a three-minute span.
“It was great. I wish it had never ended,” he said of the hot start. “I just tried to flow with the game as I got in, because it is a different level than I’m used to. For my first time, I enjoyed doing some positive