LSU Men's Basketball team holds Auburn to only 6 points at the half and 8 percent FG shooting

ugliest game EVER!!

 

woo hoo, we won a game. 6 points and 8% shooting? dayum.

 

Just watched the replay, and a few impressions to report.

First off, for those that say Trent isn't coaching, I'd say o' contrare.

LSU played almost exclusively a 2-3 match up zone that looked quite a bit better last night than in the UVA game. There was very good rotation, neutralizing LSU's lateral speed issues, and it worked wonders against an AU team that frankly isn't a very good shooting team. There was obviously some of it which was AU missing 15 footers and 3s, but LSU was very active in the zone and as SFan says, they were rebounding well within the zone as well. This is a good example of the coaches adapting their system for their players, and hopefully the team will continue to improve in it.

Second I'd say that some of the things that actually bite the tigers (free throws, and at times inexperienced shot selection and turnovers) actually kept the Tigers from blowing AU out. Stringer took some poor shots (and I'll have to acknowledge that to some degree Trent is going to let Stringer shoot often) and there were just some sloppy passes from Green, Derenbecker and a few others. But, on balance, you have folks that were playing hard and stepping up. Green was very active, and also Malcolm White had a relatively quiet game in the stat lines, but was very active--getting rebounds, hitting FTs and being active on defense. Derenbecker had almost a "quiet" 15 points, but hit some very key 3 pointers when AU was trying to make a run in the second half and a few nice drives to the hoop. I think Derenbecker is going to have to get stronger and improve his handle-there were times when you could tell his lack of strength allowed him to get pushed out of getting rebounds, and when LSU gets pressed, he's going to end up called on to handle more. But, you can see his confidence going up.

Some things to be concerned about? Well, LSU didn't shoot great still and against a team that shoots well, we'll be hard pressed to win, but that's somewhat skewed by Stringer and Dotson who again had sort of a confusing night. LSU is still susceptible to the press, and there were times where Stringer and Bass and Dotson looked a little out of sorts breaking both zone presses that Auburn threw at them. The positives here are we won fairly handily without a good game from Stringer and no Turner. This is a good time for Derenbecker, Green and White (hopefully Dotson) to develop some confidence, and hopefully next game, Stringer will start to develop more of his PG game besides chucking up 25 footers.

It's a win, though, and we just need to keep playing hard.

 

id also be worried about other teams seeing what AU did in the second half...cant we learn to break a press?!?! and not freak out in the process?!?!

 

Good games from Green and Derenbecker. Hopefully we can get back Turner for Arkansas wedesnday night.

 

At this point I'll be happy anytime we can smuggle a W out of the arena. Every W we get gets us closer to doing better than last year, which leads me to believe Coach Johnson might be doing something right.

 

2 wins in the SEC matches last year....

Care to admit that the Tigers are looking better? :shock:

Seriously though, the zone defense has been sort of a lifesaver on defense. I know it kills Trent to be playing so much of it, too. It probably slows down the game a tad and keeps us from running and gunning, but I'll take the wins. In addition, if you force typical SEC teams to shoot, good things happen. The pressure on likes of Auburn and Arkansas to hit 3s can be daunting. On top of this, I want to call out Stringer tonight. Didn't go crazy with the shots, and had a career night for Assists?

Continual improvement... that's the goal. :geauxtige

 

Already did. 2 wins in the conference has already exceeded my expectations. I'm not delusional and realize this team is not a contender but, still, I'm coming around on Trent.

 

Yes and no. This team needs to learn how to play a second half. It is very easy to say these wins are wins are wins. That's great for a team struggling so much.

However, on the negative side, LSU has been outscored 85-55 in the second half of the last two games. They have almost let two BIG leads slip away and turn into losses.

I am very worried about the next few games.

@Kentucky
Ole Miss
@UT
@Bama

These guys are playing with a lot of confidence and have a brutal stretch here. I hate to see them lose all momentum and stumble.

 

Dale Brown is on 1210 right now and he said Brad Daugherty, Michael Jordan, James Worthey, and Sam Perkins was on that team LSU held to 9 points at the half. Amazing.