By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
Beware the Tamba-Hawk at LSU men’s basketball games this season.
And don’t be surprised if LSU fans start the Tamba-Hawk Chop cheer and motion made famous by the Atlanta Braves in the 1990s with the Tomahawk Chop.
“I like that,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said of the Tamba-Hawk nickname starting. “I like that.”
LSU’s versatile, wiry 6-foot-7, 206-pound senior transfer forward Pablo Tamba of California-Davis via his hometown of Malaga, Spain, couldn’t be stopped at various points of the Tigers’ dominating, 89-77 win over SMU on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.
Tamba scored 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting inside and grabbed 10 rebounds with three steals and two assists in 37 minutes.
“You saw his motor,” McMahon said on Tiger Rag Radio (statewide, 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays) this week. “He plays with great energy on both ends of the floor. Really versatile defender. Can guard any position.”
Tamba and the Tigers (9-1) will be on display Friday against Southeastern Louisiana (4-7) at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on SEC Network+ in their first home game after five straight on the road.
From the 15:55 mark of the first half against SMU until the 13:24 mark, Tamba fed guard Max Mackinnon for a three-pointer, dunked in his own flying offensive rebound following a missed three-pointer by Dedan Thomas Jr. for a 16-14 lead at 14:17, tipped in another offensive rebound at 13:42 for an 18-16 lead, and made a steal and scored on a fast break layup for a 20-16 advantage that led to an SMU timeout.
“Where you saw him really flourish offensively was out in transition running the floor and then crashing the offensive glass,” McMahon said. “After the missed three by D.J., he came from the top of the key to dunk with two hands in traffic. And there was the lob pass that D.J. threw him from half court. He caught it and reversed with his left hand all in one motion on the other side of the rim. That was like the ‘E’ in (playing) H-O-R-S-E-type shot. Just thought he was fantastic out there.”
Tamba is averaging 6.6 points and 7.6 rebounds a game and is second on the team with 10 steals. Lately, he has been making up for the loss of 6-10 junior power forward Jalen Reed, who is out for the season after suffering an Achilles injury on Nov. 28 against Drake that required surgery. Reed was averaging 9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds off the bench.
Mike Nwoko, a 6-10 junior transfer starting forward/center from Mississippi State averaging 15.2 points and 5.3 rebounds, will be playing more minutes along with Tamba with Reed gone. And 6-9 senior transfer wing forward Marquel Sutton from Omaha has been playing the four and five position after just playing the three when Reed was playing. Robert Miller III, a 6-10 returning sophomore forward averaging 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds off the bench, will also continue to play more without Reed. Miller and Nwoko are tied for the team lead with 11 blocked shots.
Reed had been coming into his own after missing all but eight games last season with a knee injury that required surgery.
“I think we’re well equipped,” McMahon said. “I’m absolutely devastated and heartbroken about the situation with Jalen. But I do like our personnel with the versatility.”
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