The basketball team veterans will try to continue their winning ways for the second consecutive game as LSU faces in-state rival McNeese State Saturday at 2 p.m. in the PMAC.
In Tuesday’s 65-44 victory over Delaware State in the PMAC, seniors Ronald Dupree and Collis Temple III and sophomore Antonio Hudson shot a combined 18-of-23 while senior Torris Bright chipped in with seven assists compared to only three turnovers.
“It was big for our confidence,” Dupree said of the impressive showing by the veterans. “It was the first game we really had that the team really played well together. No matter who we play it is always going to be a confidence builder.”
Before the win over the Hornets, the seniors and Hudson were struggling.
Dupree was shooting 37 percent from both the free-throw line and the field, while Hudson was shooting 26 percent from the field.
Bright also had turned the ball over eight times in the first three games.
“Now we have to work on putting games together back-to-back,” Dupree said. “We need to consistently keep our play where it is each and every game. It’s going to get better as time goes along. We are a team that peaks late, so hopefully we can get a good run in real early, and get a big run in at the end.”
Dupree, who was a second-team All-Southeastern Conference performer in 2001, seemed to find his identity against DSU, where he drove to the basket first and looked for his jump shot as a secondary option. He finished the game 8-for-9 from the field with 18 points.
“I have to have a drive-first mentality and basically stay active,” Dupree said. “The jump shot is going to come. I’m not going to press for it right now or ever. I know I can shoot the ball, so anyway I can score it, that is what I am going to do.”
McNeese State (3-1) is a perennial power of the Southland Conference and lost to Mississippi State in the first round of the 2002 NCAA Tournament, 70-58.
“They are one of the in-state schools that always play us tough,” Dupree said. “Since I have been here, we have always played pretty well against them. I think this game is probably more important than our previous because if we go out and play lackadaisical and it is a close game to the end, it is going to seem like the DSU game was a fluke.”
Senior Jason Coleman is the Cowboys’ top returning scorer, as he averaged 14.4 points-per-game in the 2001-02 season.