LSU blows out Southern University 62-41

BATON ROUGE, La. – For the first time this season, Malcolm White was not in the starting lineup as LSU squared off against Southern on Monday night.

But White responded with his second double-double of the year in the Tigers' 62-41 victory against the Jaguars. Playing 24 minutes, White scored a season-high 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He made 7 of 11 field goal attempts and matched his season-high in blocked shots with three.

"Not starting had no effect on me," White said. "If coach wanted to bring me off the bench, that's fine. If he wants me to start, that's fine. We all have to come out with a lot more energy."

Garrett Green got the start ahead of White because of what transpired in a one-on-one drill at practice Sunday. Green beat White 10-2 in the matchup and earned the nod in the starting lineup. Green finished with three points and four rebounds in 15 minutes.

"I don't know if (not starting) had anything to do with how Malcolm played," LSU coach Trent Johnson said. "We need to put our players into as many competitive environments as possible. The winner of these one-on-one drills will get an opportunity to start."

The only other player to score in double figures for the Tigers (8-5) was Ralston Turner, who finished with 15 points. All but three of Turner's points came in the second half.

After going just 1 of 5 from the floor in the first half, Turner made 5 of 9 shots from the floor in the second.

"I wasn't worried about our offense," Johnson said. "Southern was averaging 57 points a game. We had a goal of holding them under 50 points."

Ray Ray Chase was the leading scorer for the Jaguars (1-11) with 10 points. Southern's top two scorers for the season — Blake Sanford and Julius Ingram — combined for only three points. Both players came into the game averaging 12 points per contest.

"Defensively, I think we did everything we wanted to do," Southern coach Rob Spivery said. "Rebounding-wise, it wasn't that bad. Offensively, we were awful. I haven't seen so many balls on our end go in and out of the basket. They were right there and those balls could have easily fallen."

Both teams got off to very poor starts offensively as the teams were a combined 3 of 26 from the field in the game's first eight minutes. LSU held a 6-2 lead with half of its points coming on a three-point play by Storm Warren.

A basket by Brandon White with 6:03 remaining cut Southern's deficit to six, 17-11. The Jaguars scored one point on a foul shot by Sanford over the rest of the half. Southern missed 22 of its 26 first-half field goal attempts.

Malcolm White made four straight baskets in a three-minute stretch to give LSU a 25-11 lead. The Tigers led 28-12 at halftime.

The Jaguars put together a 9-0 run early in the second half to reduce their deficit to nine points. Madut Bol made a couple of field goals and a basket by Ingram left the Jaguars behind 30-21. Eddie Ludwig ended the Southern spurt with a bucket and Southern trailed by at least 11 points the rest of the way.