On a night when eight LSU Tigers played at least 14 minutes in their season opener against Southern University, freshman forward Tasmin Mitchell made his presence known in his first game.
Mitchell led all players in points, rebounds, steals and minutes in the Tigers’ 84-56 win over the Jaguars on Friday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Mitchell, a McDonald’s High School All-American last year, had 18 points, 12 rebounds and four steals in 36 minutes. He shot 8 of 15 from the floor, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
“To play 36 minutes in your first college game as an incoming freshman with a lot of expectations is different than a freshman coming in with not much expectations,” said LSU coach John Brady. “He kind of showed what kind of player he is going to be.”
The Tigers outrebounded the Jaguars 55-23. LSU had 28 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 28 second-chance points. Southern scored six second-chance points after grabbing only seven offensive boards.
“In the game of basketball, there are two areas that really show toughness, and that’s defense and rebounding,” Southern first-year coach Rob Spivery said in a news release. “Tonight, we did not show very much toughness out there. The difference on the board showed that. They had as many offensive rebounds as we had total rebounds. That is unacceptable.”
LSU (1-0) shot 48 percent and held Southern (0-3) to only 38 percent. The Tigers outscored the Jaguars 48-22 in the paint. The Tigers never trailed after senior Darrel Mitchell scored the first basket of the game, which led to a 7-0 run in the first 85 seconds. Sophomore Glen Davis made a layup, which was followed by Mitchell’s 3-pointer.
LSU built an 18-point lead and was ahead 35-17 with five minutes left in the first period. But Southern charged back with a 9-0 run after Jaguars’ guard Deforrest Riley-Smith hit back-to-back 3-pointers followed by teammate Brandon Wardlow’s 3-pointer.
The Tigers closed the period with an 8-2 run and led 43-28 at halftime. The Jaguars trailed by double figures the rest of the game. Freshman Tyrus Thomas, the first forward off the bench, led all players with 13 points at the half in only 12 minutes. Thomas ended the game with 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
Davis went into the half with seven rebounds but only six points after he shot 3 of 7 from the floor and missed all three of his free-throw attempts.
“In the first half, I wasn’t really leading the team,” Davis said. “I was kind of down when I wasn’t making my shots, but I bounced back and I came through.”
Davis led all players with 12 points in the second period. He finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
The Tigers nearly matched their first-period production when they outscored the Jaguars 41-28 in the second period in similar fashion.
Although Mitchell made only five of his 14 field goal attempts, he finished the game with 13 points, seven assists and seven rebounds.
“It’s a minor rivalry for us,” Mitchell said. “We just came out, played tough defense and got the victory.”