Preview: LA Tech at LSU - LA Tech Athletics

RUSTON – The Louisiana Tech men's basketball team is traveling to Baton Rouge to play the LSU Tigers on Monday evening inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. CT.

Game Information
Date/Time: Monday, Nov. 9 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Pete Maravich Assembly Center (Baton Rouge, LA)
Watch: SEC Network+
Listen: LA Tech Sports Network | LA Tech Athletics app
Live Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats

About Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech makes the drive down to Baton Rouge with a 2-0 record coming off a dominant 86-17 victory against Arkansas-Monticello last Thursday evening. Holding the Boll Weevils to just 17 points etched this game into the history books. Since it opened in 1982, 17 points is the lowest total both the Bulldogs and Lady Techsters have ever allowed. Since at least 2000, no other NCAA-affiliated men's basketball program has allowed an opponent to score 17 or fewer points. You would have to travel back 91 years to see the last time LA Tech allowed an opponent to 17 or fewer points, when they held UL-Lafayette to 17.

A key reason the Bulldogs held the Boll Weevils to just 17 points was their defensive intensity. LA Tech recorded 18 steals, which is tied for second most in a game in program history. Eight different players had steals, with five of them having two or more (Francis Jr. - 4, Jay Tyler - 2, Kyran Tilley - 3, Trashaun Combs Pierce - 4, Deven Bates - 2). They scored 36 points off of those turnovers. Overall, LA Tech held Ark-Monticello to just 6-38 shooting, which is 15.79%.

On the offensive side, Braylon Wenger, Iyran Francis Jr, and Adam Boyd all scored 10+ points (13, 12, and 10 respectively.) Eleven different players added points for the Bulldogs.

About LSU
LSU also enters the game with a 2-0 record. They opened the season with a 100-57 victory over LSU New Orleans, then dispatched Texas Southern 92-51 three days later. They are in the first season of head coach Will Wade's second stint with the team. In his first five seasons, he had a 105-51 record. He then spent two seasons at McNeese and one at NC State before returning to Baton Rouge for this year. The Tigers have three different players with 29 total points this season: Donovan Dent, Micheal Ruzic, and Sailou Niang. Against Texas Southern, six different players had double digit points and two players with a double-double: Sailou Niang (15 pts, 11 rebounds) and Micheal Ruzic (12 pts, 11 rebounds).

The Series
LA Tech and LSU have played fourteen times over the years, with LSU leading the series 13-1. Only four of those games were played in the 2000s. The most recent game was in 2021, a 66-57 win for the Tigers in Bossier City. Will Wade was the LSU head coach for three of the games (2018, 2020, 2021). The one game LA Tech won was in 1988, a 111-109 victory in overtime in Baton Rouge. On record, it is unknown if the two teams have ever faced off in Ruston.

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Players Mentioned

Deven Bates

Adam Boyd

Kyran Tilley

Jay Tyler

Braylon Wenger

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