The future of LSU basketball made a strong showing in the Tigers’ 63-59 win over Georgia on Wednesday before 6,740 at the PMAC, specifically in the second half of the game.
For the majority of the second half, coach John Brady went with a predominantly young lineup consisting of freshmen Brandon Bass, Tack Minor, Regis Koundjia, sophomore Darrel Mitchell and senior Jaime Lloreda.
Lloreda did his thing, scoring 18 points with 12 rebounds, but the play of the underclassman also contributed largely to the win as junior Antonio Hudson was held to 3 points and point guard Xavier Whipple scored 2.
Bass scored 11 points in the second half while Koundjia and Minor scored all of their points (7 and 4 respectively) in the second half.
Bass’ layup with 12 seconds left gave the Tigers (13-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) a 62-59 lead and Koundjia’s free throw with 0.4 seconds left put the Tigers up by four to ice the game.
Brady said he hoped the freshman would continue to play as they did Wednesday against the Bulldogs (9-8, 1-4).
“We are the youngest team in the Southeastern Conference,” Brady said. “We’re going to make some gut-wrenching mistakes, but then at times we’re going to make some really nice spectacular plays.”
Bass also grabbed eight rebounds and finished 5-of-6 from the field for 17 points. Bass had disappeared in the Tigers’ previous three games, all losses, scoring a total of 22 points.
“I was glad to see Brandon get back on track,” Brady said.
Koundjia, who had struggled with his 3-point shot on the year shooting 6-of-30 from downtown, buried two treys in the second half. The second 3-pointer gave LSU a 39-38 lead and the Tigers would not trail through the remainder of the game.
“Regis has been working on his shot and today he showed that he can hit it,” said Minor, who scored four crucial points down the stretch.
Freshmen forwards Darnell Lazare and Ross Neltner also saw key minutes. Neither scored a point, but both grabbed three rebounds a piece.
Mitchell, who was limited to 2 points in the second half, did most of his damage in the first half. The 5-foot-11 sophomore guard who scored 10 in the first half, including two 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.
Last season as a freshman coming off the bench, Mitchell was one of the Tigers’ main offensive contributors averaging 7.0 points a game. He said the important thing for this year’s freshmen is to stay positive.
“Being that they’re so young they have to stick through it and not get down because they’re not scoring as many points,” Mitchell said.
And the freshmen are learning. Wednesday night they scored 22 of the Tigers’ 37 points in the second half.
“We just need to be more consistent,” Minor said. “Our team is pretty good, and we’re going to get better.”