Box Score BATON ROUGE, La. -
Khaleb Wilson-Rouse led the University of New Orleans men's basketball team with a career-high 21 points and eight rebounds in a non-conference battle loss to SEC power LSU 91-62 tonight.
"I take pride in winning, and this was a loss. I know that I played well, but we just have to move on to the next one," said Wilson-Rouse about his performance.
Tyson Jackson also fought to get into double-digit scoring with 14 points, a season-high for the junior. Jackon's focus as a junior on the team is seeing everyone competing at tip-top shape. "In order to win moving forward, we are gonna' need everybody," said Jackson. "Sim and Sackey having good games tonight after coming off injuries was big for us."
COACH'S CORNER
The score isn't indicative of how hard our guys competed. They fought through some tough situations and figured some stuff out tonight. We needed to reestablish our inside game, and as the game progressed, we figured out how to play through some of the things that Coach McMahon and his staff were doing.
INSIDE THE BOX
Wilson-Rouse was dominant on both ends of the court recording season-highs in scoring, rebounds, and three-points made. The Pacific transfer was five-of-nine from the arc and two-of-two from the free-throw line in 33 minutes of play.
Jackson, also playing 33 minutes, was an offensive force for the Privateers below with 14 points and two rebounds.
K'mani Doughty had a strong game off the bench with nine points and four boards. D'ante Bell, who also had four rebounds, finished with six points along with
Simeon Kirkland.
Marquez Cooper put up four points, his first time scoring on the NCAA DI level. True freshman Preston Murphy Jr., started at point guard, and contributed two points in 30 minutes of play with only two turnovers.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Privateers were off to a quick start with Kirkland winning the jump ball and scoring the first point with a layup only seconds under the 20-minute mark. The Tigers answered with a jumper, which was followed by a three-pointer from Wilson-Rouse and a free-throw shot from Jackson. This gave the Privateers their biggest lead of the night (2-6.) Unable to maintain the lead, New Orleans trailed by 22 (25-47) going into the second half.
While both teams shot 41% from the field in the first half, LSU shot an impressive 81% from the free-throw line compared to New Orleans' 20%.
With 14 minutes left in the game, the Privateers heated up with Doughty as the spark. He put up two consecutive jumpers followed by a layup by Kirkland. The guys caught their second wind right under 9 minutes with Bell and Cooper putting up ten points combined and starters Murphy, Wilson-Rouse, Kirkland, and Jackson making up the difference with 27 points combined (62-91).
UP NEXT
The men in blue return to the Lakefront for the Big Easy Classic Nov. 23 - 25 to include The Citadel, IUPUI and Denver. The Privateers will take on The Citadel Wednesday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. CT. The games will be broadcast nationally on the ESPN + and can be heard on NASH ICON 106.1 FM. The Voice of the Privateers, Jude Young, will be joined on color by Tic Price. To purchase tickets, visit unoprivateers.com/tickets.
Fans are encouraged to follow @PrivateersHoops on Twitter, @PrivateersHoops on Instagram, like /PrivateersMBB on Facebook and subscribe to the PrivateerAthletics YouTube channel.
