Young NSU men fall in opening round of conference tourney
March 14, 2012SL boys win home meet
March 14, 2012
LSU had everything working in its favor Friday afternoon at the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Its defense was on point. Its offense was making timely shots.
And more importantly, its opponent, No. 1 Kentucky, was reeling and not playing their best game.
But with an opportunity for a huge upset looming inside the New Orleans Arena, college basketball’s Goliath stood tall. LSU’s regular season came crashing to its completion shortly thereafter.
Trailing 35-30 with 16 minutes to play, Kentucky coach John Calipari called a 30-second timeout. The timeout broke a 11-5 LSU run out of halftime. It also woke up the nation’s best team, as the Wildcats responded with a 9-0 run to take a 39-35 lead.
With momentum, Kentucky held off every following Tigers’ rally, pushing the Wildcats to a 60-51 win.
The loss ended LSU’s regular season with an 18-14 record.
It also ended all hopes for a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the Tigers.
“A tough, tough, tough loss,” a dejected LSU coach Trent Johnson said following the game. “I thought we competed as hard and as good as we have all year. It’s unfortunate for us that we had some shots that didn’t go down for us.”
LSU’s game plan against the Wildcats was simple – physicality.
It worked. For most of the game, the Tigers muscled Kentucky’s roster to keep the team out of rhythm.
LSU limited the Wildcats to just 31 percent shooting in the first half, trailing 25-24 at halftime.
Calipari said playing an opponent like LSU will prepare Kentucky for the NCAA Tournament.
“It just got too physical for guys,” Calipari said. “I had a couple guys I couldn’t leave in the game. … But this game is good for us.”
Out of halftime, LSU took its biggest lead of the game before Calipari’s timeout.
With Kentucky refocused mentally, the Wildcats took control and put the Tigers away.
LSU made the game a one possession affair a few times following the Wildcats’ surge. But the Tigers never tied or retook the lead.
“Let’s give credit to them,” Johnson said. “That’s not a good basketball team that beat us – that’s a great basketball team. And I think I know a little bit about that. I’ve been around this thing for a while.”
“Obviously they are a good team,” LSU guard Andre Stringer said. “They’re the No. 1 team. But they are in our league and we came in with all the confidence and that’s how we approach every game. … We fought hard and it showed tonight that we played with a lot of confidence and effort.”
One day before pushing the Wildcats to the limit, LSU moved to the quarterfinals by routing Arkansas 70-54.
The Tigers started slow against the Razorbacks, turning over the ball countless times in the opening half amidst Arkansas’ defense. Those ball handling issues pushed the teams to a 28-28 score at halftime, despite LSU shooting more than 40 percent from the field.
Johnson said he credited nerves for the team’s slow start, but added he told the team they needed to rebound if they wanted to move to the next round.
“I said, ‘We put ourselves in this situation, it’s our responsibility to get out of it. If you want to continue to play, it’s on you,’” Johnson said. “And it’s not about anything a coach can say or do, it’s about a player being mentally tough enough to go out and do the right things all of the time.”
Apparently, Johnson’s message resonated with his team, as the Tigers came out of halftime strong and never looked back, opening the final 20 minutes on a 10-2 run to take a 38-30 lead.
The lead grew to as much as 14 with seven minutes to play. With that lead in hand, LSU’s defense did the rest and put the game away for good.
“We put emphasis on not giving up the middle, because that’s the way our defense works,” LSU senior Storm Warren said. “And we pretty much just kept our hands to ourselves and stayed in position and gave them one look and one opportunity.”
On offense, balance was the story of that victory, as five Tigers posted double digit scoring, led by freshman Johnny O’Bryant, who paced the team with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
“It was definitely a great game for me,” O’Bryant said. “The second half, I just tried to stay with it and continue to knock down free throws and take it to them. So it was definitely a great game for me.”
With the SEC Tournament complete, LSU shifted its attention to the postseason – for the second time in the Johnson Era.
The Tigers were invited to play in the NIT, which tipped off last night when the team traveled to take on Oregon.
That game was shown before a nationally televised audience on ESPN and a score was unavailable at press time.
Johnson said when clicking, LSU has one of the best teams in the SEC.
He said the Tigers embrace the opportunity to continue their season.
“There are 100 teams in the country out of 345 that have an opportunity to play in either the NCAA or the NIT, so we are looking forward to our opportunity and the challenge,” Johnson said. “The team is going to work immediately tonight now that the selection show is over and we know our opponent and begin to prepare for Oregon.”
LSU guard Andre Stringer pushes the basketball up the floor in last week’s SEC Tournament. The Tigers’ season ended Tuesday night in a loss to Oregon in the NIT.
