GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
During LSU basketball coach Matt McMahon’s postgame appearance on the LSU Radio Network Monday after a 93-58 win over UNO, he and former LSU coach-turned radio analyst John Brady had a hilarious exchange.
McMahon and Brady were discussing the +45 that senior transfer guard/forward Marquel Sutton received in the game as he scored 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range and 15 rebounds with no turnovers and a blocked shot.
LSU pushes UNO around in 93-58 win.https://t.co/mIMHEqfOC6
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 11, 2025
The +/- NCAA statistical category appears on the far right of the traditional box score. There were only two other Tigers with scores as high as the 20s. But all 13 who saw action had positive +/- scores as LSU led by 12-2 early and by double figures most of the game against a team that had just won at TCU.
The +/- stat records the point differential by the two teams for each player based on when he is in the game. Sutton started the game, and at the time he first left midway through the first half, LSU was up 26-13. So, his +/- was +13. Sutton’s +/- clock would then re-start when he went back in, and so on. He was in when LSU’s outscored by 11, then 17 and on and on. In the end, his total reached 45 as the Tigers built their large lead and final margin of 35 points.
In other words, while Sutton was scoring his 15, his four teammates at various intervals when Sutton was in were also playing well.
“I turned to the coaches and said, ‘Yeah, we can’t take him out at all,’” McMahon said.
“I remember last year, we had a lot of negatives in that,” Brady told McMahon.
“Yeah, I don’t remember last year, coach. I’m looking out that windshield, not the rearview,” McMahon said.
“Yeah, I got you, baby,” Brady said. “I understand.”
LSU finished 14-18 overall and 3-15 in the Southeastern Conference last season for second to last.
The Tigers (2-0) will try to keep looking ahead when they host Florida International (1-1) on Thursday (7 p.m., SEC Network+).
“I thought our guys were really dialed in to the plan of attack,” McMahon said of the win over UNO, which won 78-74 at TCU on Nov. 3. “I loved our unselfishness.”
LSU, like Sutton, was efficient with 21 assists and just seven turnovers vs. UNO. The Tigers averaged 13 turnovers a game last season.
LSU had three others in double figures Monday as junior transfer forward Michael Nwoko scored a career-high 22 on 9-of-13 shooting, junior forward Jalen Reed had 15 on 6-of-10 shooting with seven rebounds off the bench in 17 minutes, and senior forward Pablo Tambo added 10 on 4-of-5 shooting with five rebounds.
“I thought we had a great advantage of physicality and size in the post,” said McMahon, who rarely had that last season. “And all our front court guys were terrific.”
Don’t bet against LSU’s new point guard from Vegas:https://t.co/JIcEfye908
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) November 10, 2025
Junior transfer point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. quarterbacked the team well with nine points and eight assists with one turnover.
“As you’ve seen, Dedan will find you,” McMahon said. “He’s very unselfish and has phenomenal floor vision. He sees things we as coaches don’t see. He gets the floor properly spaced. We just let him operate.”
Backup freshman point guard Jalen Reece had four assists off the bench.
“As a big, if you want to be successful in this game, you’ve got to be playing with elite guards,” Nwoko said. “It makes you look a lot better than you actually are, some may say.”
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