Boxscore

Junior forward Paul Millsap recorded his 46th career double-double with 25 points and 14 rebounds in Louisiana Tech's 61-52 home-opening win over Southern University in the Thomas Assembly Center on Saturday.

Tech head coach Keith Richard passed Andy Russo on the school's all-time career coaching wins list with his 123 win with the Bulldogs (3-3), and he pushed his undefeated record in home openers at Tech to 8-0.

Southern (0-5) entered the contest winless for the season, dropping road games to Texas, Sacramento State, LSU and Texas A&M. However, the Jaguars kept the score tight throughout the game, and Richard said the nervousness of playing their first home game played a role in his team's performance.

?Games on this level are hard to win regardless of who you play when it?s a Division I team,? Richard said. ?This is why teams play eight home games before conference starts. You want to get all the jitters out. There was some nervousness in our team going into its first home game. We missed some lay-ups and easy shots that I really believe we?ll make when we become more comfortable.?

Richard also said the main difference for his team tonight was simply having the best player ? speaking of the NCAA?s two-time rebounding champion Millsap.

?Most importantly, we had the best player on the court, and that was the difference in the game,? Richard said. ?In the second half, everybody knew we were going to Millsap, but we still only had two turnovers. I?m just happy we got the win. In the locker room after the game, the guys were more relieved that they won than happy.?

Behind Millsap in the scoring column was senior forward Michael Wilds, junior guard Trey McDowell and junior guard Marcus Elliott who scored eight points each. Senior point guard Daevon Haskins had four points, five rebounds and five assists.

After committing 19.4 turnovers per game through their first five games, the Bulldogs gave away only 10 turnovers against the Jaguars. Tech continued its improved free throw shooting by making 13-of-17 (76.5 percent), and the Bulldogs out-rebounded Southern 37-36.

Tech has out-rebounded its opponents in five of six games this year, and Richard said it has partly been because of the help from the guards.

?Our guards have to rebound and help Paul down there,? Richard said. ?We?ve rebounded well all season, which is surprising because we?re not very big. The difference in the first half today was giving up offensive rebounds. We spent most of halftime talking about rebounding, and we came out to do a much better job in the second half.?

Southern?s leading scorer entering the game, Chris Alexander, once again led the Jaguars with 13 points, and Peter Cipriano added 12 points.

The Bulldogs next contest will be at Texas Tech on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.