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Christmas dinner probably was a little harder to swallow than normal this year in the home of LSU basketball coach Trent Johnson.
It’s not because the rice dressing was too thick or the ham was too salty, but rather LSU’s recent play that’s the cause of the coach’s poor appetite.
The young Tigers have struggled to find an identity early in this season, losing non-conference games to Nicholls State, Coastal Carolina, Memphis, Wichita State, while also going to overtime with McNeese State.
But it was one of the Tigers’ latest losses that caused Johnson the most ire n a 20-point blowout the team suffered against North Texas on Dec. 22 that sent the team into Christmas arguably at its lowest point in years.
“I wish I could sit up here and tell you I saw that coming, but my goodness,” Johnson told reporters following that loss. “We just weren’t very good; we weren’t very competitive tonight. … Basically what I told these guys was, ‘Hey, I don’t know what to tell you other than the fact that we flat got our tails handed to us at home, and you have three days to spend some time with family and friends and try to have a good Christmas and come back here on (December) 26 and get back after it.’”
The root of LSU’s struggles this year have been in the paint and more specifically rebounding.
The Tigers are posting all-around better offensive numbers this year than they did in 2009, but on defense, LSU is allowing opponents to get second, third and sometimes fourth looks at the basket.
Against North Texas, LSU was outrebounded 41-32 and everyone up and down the Tigers’ roster raved about how that needed to change for the team’s fortunes to be reversed.
“We have to continue to work on things in practice like boxing out, rebounding, taking care of the ball and catching the ball with two hands,” junior forward Garrett Green said. “There are a lot of things Coach [Johnson] emphasizes. We just have to keep pushing.”
When LSU “got back after it” after the break, they did so with a new lineup, as Johnson tweaked his starting lineup, inserting Green into the lineup in place of the team’s previous starter, forward Malcolm White.
Johnson said he has had a season-long policy that White and Green would battle for that starting spot prior to each game in a one-on-one drill in practice.
While that may be true, Green’s upset still did catch attention, because White had one-upped his counterpart to start the first 12 games.
“The reason we go one-on-one is because defensively you are keeping people out of the lane, you are putting a body on a guy and if you are blocking a guy out you are going to rebound the ball,” Johnson said. “It was a very competitive drill, and Garrett beat Malcolm 10-2.”
With the win in practice also came a win for the Tigers as LSU beat Southern in their first game out of the break, using some of that defense to secure a 62-41 victory.
The Tigers limited the Jaguars to just 30 percent shooting in the game and forced 15 turnovers.
And if LSU will hope to turn things around in the Southeastern Conference portion of their schedule n that’s the formula Johnson thinks will be the key to success.
“This basketball team needs to develop an identity where their defense, rebounding and their effort dictates how good they feel about themselves,” Johnson said. “That is going to put us in situations to win games. I have said this before, and I’m going to share this with you because I share it with them all the time, if we get three more stops, if we get two more block outs and if we come up with two more loose balls we would probably only have two losses.”
Maybe with just two losses, that last bite on that Christmas dessert would have tasted better.
Until then, Johnson and the Tigers are hoping brighter days are in store in 2011.
Because with SEC play looming and LSU in a funk, more trouble could be ahead for the Tigers.
LSU junior forward Garrett Green skies for a slam dunk during a game last season. Green was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time last week as the Tigers romped Southern. STEVE FRANZ – LSU SPORTS
