Derek Fountain launched himself in the air after a missed shot. The LSU men's basketball forward swooped in for a one-hand, off-balance tip-in to give LSU a bucket right as the first-half buzzer sounded.
Hustle plays like this weren't needed against a Stetson team the LSU outmatched. However, it was still good to see even in LSU's 99-53 win over Stetson at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU allowed only 10 first-half points to Stetson, which entered the game as the 355th team in the country in the NET rankings. That is the fewest points allowed in a half by LSU since 2001 when UNO scored 10.
Stetson shot 31% from the field overall compared to 54% for LSU.
Cam Carter finished with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting for LSU; Dji Bailey had 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals; Corey Chest had 13 points and 10 rebounds; and Vyctorius Milller had 16 points and five rebounds.
LSU was coming off a 74-64 loss to SMU on Saturday in Frisco, Texas. It lost that game largely because of poor ball security as it had 13 of its 17 turnovers in the second half. Against Stetson, the Tigers had only 11 turnovers.
Beating Stetson (1-10) with ease is what LSU was expected to do. That appeared like a certainty from the onset as the Tigers began the game by scoring 17 unanswered points.
Stetson started the game 0 of 16 from the field. LSU forward Daimion Collins was a prominent factor in Stetson's poor shooting. The 6-foot-9 forward consistently leaped for contests and blocks around the hoop. Stetson finally ended the scoring drought with a mid-range jumper at the 10:19 mark.
Carter found a groove early as he had eight of the team's first 13 points. His best bucket was a stepback 3-pointer at the top of the key with the shot clock winding down at the 14:51 mark of the first half.
At halftime, LSU led 47-10 and was 16 of 32 from the field compared to Stetson, which shot 4 of 31.
Chest was the early star of the second half. He leaked out for transition dunks after steals and did his normal routine of outhustling opponents for offensive rebounds that resulted in layups.
The standout player in the last five minutes of the game was Miller, who made three 3-pointers in that span.
This type of blowout allowed the team to provide extended minutes to its bench players. Curtis Givens, who entered averaging 12.2 minutes per game, had 12 points and six assists in 19 minutes.
LSU will be back at the PMAC to play UNO at 2 p.m. Sunday.