By Ryan Rogers
LSUsports.net
BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team had two intense workouts in preparation for its NCAA Tournament first-round match-up with Southeast Missouri State Thursday at 2 p.m. in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Tigers and Indians will battle to face the winner of Texas and Indiana State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“I was pleased with the intensity of the practices the last few days,” said Brady.
The Tigers concentrated their efforts in practice on taking care of the ball. Coach Brady had his troops performing many ball-handling drills and the Tigers competed in scrimmages in which Brady got on his players when they turned the ball over.
According to Brady, the Tigers committed too many turnovers against Arkansas, which led to the 69-67 loss. LSU is hoping to keep the number of turnovers down in the tournament.
LSU also took a look at Southeast Missouri State’s offense and defense via the LSU scout team. LSU should be prepared for what Southeast Missouri St. brings to the table.
SEMO plays strictly man-to man defense. This is an advantage to LSU. The Tigers have faired much better against man-to-man defenses than zone defenses all year. Southeast Missouri St. has not used a zone all year and they appear to be steadfast in sticking with the man-to-man defense versus LSU.
“We’ve looked at five or six game films of them and I’ve never seen them play a zone,” said Brady. “But, I’m sure they have a zone defense somewhere in their arsenal.”
Southeast Missouri State is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference and they entered the tournament with a 24-6 record. They are making their first tourney appearance.
Coach Brady hopes his team is ready to play.
“We better be ready or else we’ll be back in Baton Rouge really quick. I think the team is focused on what we need to do in order to be successful,” said Brady.