Bulldogs begin season with a bang

A big second half, led by the standout play of three high- major transfers, gave Louisiana Tech a 77-50 win over LSU- Alexandria to open the 2024-25 season on Monday night at the Thomas Assembly Center.

The Bulldogs, welcoming seven newcomers for the second season in a row, showed little signs of growing pains in its opener – holding LSUA to 29% shooting from the field while Tech had five players in double figures and ended the final 11 minutes of the game on a 25-11 run.

Despite LSU-A jumping ahead 17-9 early, the Bulldogs rallied to lead at halftime 30-26 before pulling away in the second half at a 51.5% shooting clip over the final 20 minutes.

“We finally matched their intensity in the second half,” Tech head coach Talvin Hester said. “We actually played better defense in the second half than the first holding them to 24 points in the second half. And when you’re hitting shots and playing better defense, that’s a recipe for winning games.”

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from Tech’s strong statement to open the season.

New Dogs Bark

Three of Louisiana Tech’s newcomers wasted no time introducing themselves on Monday with 40 combined points after transferring in from the high major ranks.

Oklahoma transfer Kaden Cooper, a sophomore guard, led with a team-high 17 points and 9 rebounds – both career highs – after not seeing the floor much with the Sooners last season. Georgia Tech transfer Amaree Abram had 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals, while Pitt transfer William Jeffress put up 13 points, including a 2-of-5 mark from three, and 6 rebounds.

“I hope they’re like that all year,” Hester said with a laugh postgame. “ That’s what we recruited them for. They’re really talented guys. And I still think there’s a little rust in there. I don’t even think you’ve seen the best of all of them. I think Amaree Abram is better than 4 for 13. I can promise you that. But his first time out, and first time really getting some heavy minutes in two years since he was at Ole Miss and at Georgia Tech he didn’t play as many minutes.”

Hester praised Jeffress and Cooper’s ability to start strong in an unfamiliar environment but expects even more going forward.

“Will, I told people he could shoot when we got him here. He wasn’t allowed to at his last stop and that’s OK. He has a new lease on life here and we’re happy we have him,” Hester said. “ He’s a ball of energy. He can defend. He’s on the glass too rebounding.”

As for Cooper, a former four-star prospect out of high school with offers from Kansas, UConn, Gonzaga, and Houston, among others, Hester expressed excitement about the young guard stepping up in his first career start for the Bulldogs.

“ I’ve been waiting for this Kaden Cooper since July 7,” Hester said. “He’s athletic. He affects the game on both ends. And when he gets everything going, it seems like everything works for him.”

Jeffress and Cooper spoke postgame on their debuts, and each felt they showed a solid foundation to build from. But for both, they see bigger performances down the road.

“Personally, I feel like we did pretty well. We got a lot of stuff to work on. I feel like coming into the game, the first game of the season, that might be our floor, and I feel like that’s a scary thing for us,” Jeffress said of the Bulldogs’ win. “They came out and punched us in the mouth. Our offense was a little shaky in the first half, but we picked it up in the second half. But again, if that’s our floor, it could get scary.”

Cooper said he and Jeffress spent most of their weekend preparing for their time to shine on Monday night with extra shooting practices – eager to show fans what they can bring to the table.

“We were in here getting shots last night (Sunday) and we were in that mood like we can’t wait to get on the floor and show everybody what we’re about,” Cooper said. “Once we finally got the chance, you kind of saw what it was. That’s the best feeling you can ask for.”

Sean Newman’s impact

The return of Daniel Batcho and Sean Newman was expected to give Tech a strong base to work with to try to build off last year’s success.

Well, through one game this season, Newman picked up where he left off in his debut campaign last season with 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and 2 points on Monday against LSU-A.

Newman may have finished 1-of-7 from the field with a single layup but Hester said a point guard’s primary job is to control the game and set the table for others. With Newman, he knows the Bulldogs have a weapon that few teams in the country can match.

“I think he’s one of the best point guards in the country,” Hester said. “When you have 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocked shots, unbelievable, and you’re a plus-16. He just anchors us. Sometimes people look at other sports and say the receiver’s really good or the running back’s really good. But at the end of the day, somebody has to organize it all and that’s what he does for us. He keeps us calm. He keeps us low turnovers. He’s our leader.”

Monday’s win was the 20th time in Newman’s 29 career games at Tech that he’s had at least 5 assists. Dating back to last season, Tech is 9-3 when Newman has at least 6 assists. Newman helped the Bulldogs finish with 17 assists on 28 made field goals against LSU-A.

Jeffress said postgame that Newman’s approach to the game sets the standard for the Bulldogs.

“I didn’t look at the stats and I don’t know how many points Sean Newman scored but that boy came in with the biggest smile on his face in the locker room,” Jeffress said. “I think that, in general within our team, the amount of selflessness that we have is going to take us a long way.”

Tech (1-0) travels to UT Arlington (1-0) on Saturday at 5 p.m. for the first road game of the season.