LSU steamrolls Belmont in dominant 83-53 win

BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU men’s basketball team (5-0) dominated Belmont (3-2) 83-53 Monday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

With the win, the Tigers have now won eight consecutive home games dating back to last season and opens the year with a 5-0 record for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

LSU has held all five of its opponents this season under 60 points. The last time the Tigers held their first five opponents under 60 points was in the 1946-47 season under Coach Harry Rabenhorst when LSU reeled off 20 straight games holding teams under 60 points.

The Tigers shot a season-high 54.2 percent from the field (32-of-59) and 86.7 percent at the charity stripe (13-of-15), while holding Belmont to a 32.3 field goal percentage in the game. LSU smothered Belmont with its defense forcing 16 turnovers that they converted into 21 points and on offense, they dominated the paint 50-20.

Tari Eason led the Tigers with 17 points (8-of-12) and added seven rebounds and three steals. Xavier Pinson put up a season-high 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting with two 3-point field goals, followed by Brandon Murray’s 13 points and was 3-of-3 from behind the arc. Efton Reid rounded out the top scorers with 12 points and recorded season-bests of nine rebounds and three blocks.

Belmont opened the game with a 7-0 run and LSU struggled to get going, shooting 0-of-5 from the floor. After a Murray triple prior to the under 12-minute media timeout, the Tigers clamped down defensively to force six turnovers and proceeded to run away with the half thanks to a 22-4 run to hold a 25-11 lead at the 7:03 mark. The Tigers went into halftime with a 36-23 advantage led by Pinson’s 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers.

LSU gave Belmont a dose of its own medicine by starting the second half with a 7-0 run and went a step further, increasing its margin to 30 points behind 14 unanswered points. The Tigers led 62-32 at the first media timeout of the half and never looked back as the margin ballooned to as many as 39 points.

The Tigers will head to Niceville, Fla. Nov. 26-27 to participate in the Emerald Classic. LSU will take on Penn State on Friday, Nov. 26 at 6 p.m. before playing a pair of games on Saturday, Nov. 27 against Wake Forest (3:30 p.m.) and Oregon State (6 p.m.).