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Tigers blow out Illinois State in Cayman Island Classic opener

LSU first-year head basketball coach Matt McMahon described his team’s first half in its Cayman Island Classic opener perfectly.

“It was an awesome first 20 minutes,” he said.

Fairly close to near perfect.

The Tigers exploded for 45 first-half points, led by 27 points at the break and strutted across the finish line a 77-61 winner over Illinois State victory here in Georgetown Grand Cayman Monday morning at John Gray Gymnasium.

LSU (4-0) advanced to Tuesday’s second round game at 12:30 p.m. CST vs. Akron (3-1), which was a 72-53 winner over Western Kentucky.

Fifth-year senior transfer KJ Williams, last season’s Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year under then-Murray State coach McMahon, scored a game-high 32 points for LSU. Williams was 13-of-19 from the field with a 3-pointer and 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

Guard Adam Miller added 13 points for the Tigers and Cam Hays came off the bench to score 10.

We played really unselfishly,” McMahon said. “I thought we looked like a fundamentally sound offensive team in the first half that shared and moved the ball well.”

The Tigers finished shooting 49.1 percent (26-53) from the floor and made 22-of-30 free throws. LSU scored 40 points in the paint.

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