Andre Jones dribble drive vs. LSU 2021
MG Miller
39
La.-Monroe ULM 0-1,0-0 Sun Belt
101
Winner LSU LSU 1-0,0-0 SEC
La.-Monroe ULM
0-1,0-0 Sun Belt
39
Final
101
LSU LSU
1-0,0-0 SEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
La.-Monroe ULM 20 19 39
LSU LSU 52 49 101

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Warhawks Have Rough Season Opener at LSU

By ULMWarhawks.com Online Columnist Paul Letlow

BATON ROUGE, La. – ULM basketball players will be seeing rainbow shots by LSU's Darius Days – for days.

The senior forward scored a career-high 30 points while draining 8-of-9 3-pointers in a decisive 101-39 win over ULM  in the season opener for both teams.

"Days hitting those threes in the first half turned the game," ULM coach Keith Richard said. "We were hanging in there somewhat and staying within distance. And then all of a sudden, three or four threes that he makes and the tide turned. The crowd got into it and it got ugly from there."

The blowout loss by 62 points was the largest margin in school history. Prior to this one, the biggest loss was 57 points to Xavier in a 118-61 decision on Nov. 24, 1997. ULM hadn't scored fewer than 40 points since a 67-36 loss at Butler on Dec. 28, 2019.

"We struggled to score against their switching, man-to-man defense," Richard said. "We knew they were going to do it. They did it last year and we worked on it this week. But until you play against these guys and the length and the quickness that they have doing that switching, I thought our guards didn't do a good job beating them off the dribble when we needed to."

The box score was unkind all around. When the Warhawks (0-1) weren't watching Days blister the nets, they were having trouble with turnovers. ULM surrendered 38 points off 25 giveaways in the contest.

ULM shot 28 percent from the field  (13-of-47) and didn't have a player reach double figures. Thomas Howell led the Warhawks with eight points. LSU outrebounded ULM, 47-26, and outscored the Warhawks, 22-3, on second-chance points.

"Give LSU credit. That's who they are," Richard said. "They forced 25 turnovers and they get 17 offensive rebounds. I think that's the team they're going to be this year."

Efton Reid added 16 points for LSU, which shot 53 percent overall and made 12-of-29 3-pointers.

A first-team All-SEC pick, Days scored 23 points and made 7-of-8 3-pointers in a blistering first-half exhibition that sent ULM to the locker room trailing 52-20 at halftime.

ULM never led as Days led an early blitz with eight points and LSU opened the game on a 12-4 run.

ULM made 5-of-6 field-goal attempts and Howell scored six points as the Warhawks hung close in the first 10 minutes.

But with his fifth and sixth 3-pointers, Days pushed LSU's lead to 28-17 with 6:55 left in the half. A 26-0 LSU run that featured seven ULM turnovers expanded the lead to 48-17 as the Warhawks suffered a scoring drought of more than eight minutes until Trey Boston's 3-pointer with 1:45 to go in the half.

The Warhawks made 13 turnovers and gave up 19 points off giveaways in contributing to their 32-point halftime deficit.

The second half brought no relief for the Warhawks as LSU opened with a 14-5 run that extended the lead to 66-25. ULM went more than 10 minutes without scoring a field goal as the deficit swelled.

LSU outscored ULM, 49-19, in the second half. All by himself, Days was outscoring ULM, 30-29, with 6:11 left in the contest.

"We had a loss like this at Ohio State about seven years ago," Richard said. "It is what it is. A bad loss. Not one player played well, not one coach coached well, including myself. That's what I told them. We all need to own this. It's not about the winning and losing. We didn't play very well when the broke away from us the rest of the game. It was a struggle. We have a lot of improving to do."

Up next: ULM plays at Auburn on Friday, Nov. 12. Tipoff is 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.
 
Tail feathers: The starting lineup for ULM's opener included guards Elijah Gonzalez, Andre Jones and Reginald Gee and forwards Russell Harrison and Thomas Howell. … LSU improved to 8-0 in the all-time series vs. ULM. … Days scored 14 of LSU's first 18 points with four 3-pointers over the first eight minutes. … Howell was ejected for a flagrant foul with 28.1 seconds left in the game.
 
 
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