LSU routs Houston at home

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Posted 7:18AM on Thursday, January 9, 2003

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - LSU got a breather and a victory between Southeastern Conference games. Led by Ronald Dupree's 23 points LSU shook off a sloppy first half for an easy 80-51 victory over Houston Wednesday night. ``I think we knew after the first six or eight minutes that we were going to win the game, but it was just going to be how we were going to win it,'' Brady said. ``I told our guys that the effort was fine, but our execution, finishing our defensive possessions, and our execution on offense was really rushed.'' The Tigers, winners of 45 straight non-conference games at home, had little trouble against the overmatched Cougars. ``They wore us down,'' said Houston coach Ray McCallum. ``They did a good job of mixing things up and keeping us off balance.'' LSU (10-2) looking to shake off the 89-63 loss to Georgia that dumped them out of the Top 25 in national rankings, shot less than 53 percent from the field, and made only 5-of-17 3-point attempts. The Tigers are 12-of-51 on 3-point shots in their last three games. ``That's the story of our team right now,'' Dupree said. ``We're not shooting the ball well from the perimeter I assume guys will keep playing us in a zone.'' Houston (2-9) stretched its losing streak to six games. The Cougars shot only 36 percent from the field (17-47) and made 4-of-14 3-pointers. Houston out rebounded the Tigers 38-27. LSU, which returns to Southeastern Conference play on Saturday against Mississippi State, had 14 steals, 3 blocked shots and 24 assists. Torris Bright had 11 points and 10 assists for LSU in 32 minutes of play. Collis Temple III had 14 points and Antonio Hudson 10. ``This does a little bit for our confidence,'' Bright said. ``But Houston is not a good team. Mississippi State is a great team. We better be ready.'' Louis Truscott led Houston with 12 points and 15 rebounds. The Tigers took a 12-5 lead with 14:48 remaining in the first half, then did not score again until Temple slammed in a basket at the 10:16 mark that made it 14-7. Temple missed the follow-up free throw. Houston, which made only four of its first 16 shots from the field, scored three straight to cut LSU's lead to 17-15 at the 5:40 mark. LSU did not score for the next 5 minutes and 23 seconds, and scored just 16 points over the final five minutes. But Houston had 14 first-half turnovers and shot just 32 percent, allowing LSU to take a lead 37-22 at the break. The Tigers outscored Houston over the first five minutes of the second half to stretch their lead to 48-29.