BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Patrick Good scored 19 points to lead East Tennessee State to a 74-63 non-conference victory against LSU on Wednesday.
Good, who had scored only 16 points in the Buccaneers’ previous five games, made five 3-pointers. Bo Hodges had 13 points and Jeromy Rodriguez scored 12 for ETSU (10-2). The Buccaneers outrebounded the Tigers 40-29 and scored 40 points in the paint.
Emmitt Williams was the top scorer for LSU (7-3) with 16 points. Skylar Mays was the only other Tigers player in double figures with 13 points.
“Obviously, this was a tough night,” LSU coach Will Wade said. “East Tennessee had a great game plan. They shrunk the paint on us and then just pinned their ears back and killed us on the offensive glass. They got 15 more shots than we did and that really, really hurt us. It was too much for us to overcome.”
East Tennessee took control of the game over the final seven-plus minutes of the opening half. A basket by Trendon Watford with 7:41 before halftime put LSU ahead of the Buccaneers 20-16. East Tennessee outscored the Tigers 22-9 over the remainder of the first half.
Good made 3-pointers on three straight possessions to give the Bucs a 25-22 lead. Tray Boyd made three field goals, including one 3-pointer, during the last five minutes. Boyd’s basket with less than one second before halftime put the Bucs ahead 38-29.
“We dominated the play-hard stats,” East Tennessee State coach Steve Forbes said. “We had 12 more shots than (LSU) in the first half and a lot of that was just getting loose balls and offensive rebounds. That gave us a chance because we didn’t really it shoot it great in the first half.”
ETSU did not permit LSU to get back into the game after halftime. The Buccaneers went on a 28-12 run after Williams made a basket to bring the Tigers within seven points at 40-33 less than two minutes into the second half. East Tennessee easily got the ball inside during that stretch.
“We told them at half LSU was going to make a run,” Forbes said. “They are going to throw a punch and we’ve got to be able to take it. We did a great job of finding the open man when LSU started to press a little more. We started to get really open shots. I liked the way we handled the game for 40 minutes.”
Big Picture
East Tennessee State: The Buccaneers, who lost by 12 points at Kansas earlier this season, beat a Southeastern Conference team for just the 17th time in school history. East Tennessee now has a 17-56 record against SEC teams. The Bucs’ last victory against a SEC team came against Mississippi State, 67-65, three seasons ago.
LSU: The loss snapped the Tigers’ 16-game winning streak at home against non-conference opponents. LSU had never lost a home game by double digits since Will Wade became coach two seasons ago. The double-digit loss to a non-conference opponent at home was the Tigers’ first in nine seasons. LSU lost to North Texas 75-55 in December 2010.
Stat of the Night
East Tennessee simply dominated LSU in the lane. The Buccaneers outrebounded the Tigers 40-29. Jeromy Rodriguez had ten rebounds, while Bo Hodges had nine boards. ETSU grabbed 19 offensive rebounds which resulted in 15 second-chance points. By comparison, the Tigers had seven offensive rebounds and six second-chance points. Emmitt Williams was the only LSU player with more than five rebounds. Williams, who registered his fourth double-double of the season, had 11 boards.
Letdown
Skylar Mays, Darius Days and Trendon Watford averaged a combined 43 points in the Tigers’ first nine games. Those three players finished with a total of just 24 points against East Tennessee. Mays had 13 points. However, all but two of those came in the last six minutes after LSU had fallen behind by 23 points. Days scored four points — ten below his per-game average — and Watford ended with seven points — six below his per-game average. Mays, Days and Watford were a combined 9 of 25 from the field, including 2-of-11 on 3-pointers.
Up Next
East Tennessee State will return home to play Cleveland State on Saturday.
LSU will play Southern California in the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Los Angeles on Saturday.