Caught in foul trouble early, LSU was forced to put forth their best defensive effort in the second half against Houston.
The Tigers did just that as they zoomed to their fifth win of the season in a 84-65 win against Houston.
Brandon Sampson, Duop Reath, Jalyn Patterson, Elbert Robinson and Aaron Epps each picked up two fouls in the first half, and LSU went into halftime with a slim 39-38 lead.
Despite the early foul trouble, LSU dumped 45 second-half points on the Cougars, compared to Houston’s 27 in the final 20 minutes.
“As the game continued to play out, I thought our guys did a tremendous job of competing at a really high level,” Jones said. “I think that was the best 40 minutes that we had played all year long.”
Reath, a transfer junior forward, sat for nearly the entire first half as he played brief four minutes before adding his second foul. The 6-foot-10 rim-protector picked up three blocks in the first five minutes into the second half, helping LSU to take a 53-42 lead with 15:44 remaining in the game. He finished the game with five points, three rebounds, and five blocks.
LSU limited Houston to an 8-24 shooting performance in the second half. The Tigers also out-rebounded Houston 46-28, with 20 of the 46 boards coming on the offensive end of the floor. Those 20 offensive rebounds contributed toward 23 second chance points for the Tigers.
Rob Gray scored only four points on and shot 1-4 for Houston in the second half, following the 15 he had in the first half. LSU entered Tuesday night’s game aware they would have to limit Gray after he scored 31 points off of the bench against the Tigers last season.
“Our defense is what won us the game tonight,” junior forward Craig Victor said. “It was mainly our key to play team defense. It was a good all-around team effort.”
Victor finished with 13 points and four steals in his first home game of the season for LSU.
“Playing hard on defense makes the offense come easy,” Blakeney said. “When we have Skylar looking for everybody too, it makes our shots a lot easier.”