The LSU men’s basketball team improved its record to 9-1 Wednesday night with a tight 73-69 victory over Wyoming. The Tigers played about as well as they could to open the game, LSU Coach John Brady said, putting the visiting Cowboys down 22-6 with 12:27 left in the first half. Wyoming spent the rest of the half narrowing that lead and most of the second half struggling to gain and maintain their own lead.
The Cowboys took their first lead 50-49 with 11:38 to play when forward Marcus Bailey made one of many fast break lay-ups. Wyoming stayed ahead throughout most of the final 10:00, losing control for good with just 1:07 to play to a pair of Collis Temple III free throws.
“At times tonight there were lapses in our team from an offensive stand point,” Brady said. “Sometimes you have to give credit to the team your playing too. They become better defensively as the game moves on.”
Considering LSU’s pre-conference record, one loss in 10 games is outstanding for a team playing with just six scholarship players, which makes Brady proud, he said.
“To be 9-1 for us, I think is quite good for this team,” Brady said. “There have been moments of play where were very good.” LSU has recorded big non-conference wins on the road 61-59 at Houston, 78-68 over Oregon State in New Orleans and Wednesday’s game.
LSU’s lone blemish so far was an 88-75 loss to then top-10 ranked Arizona on the Wildcats’ home court. Brady said he believed at the beginning of the year all four of those games could go to either team.
But if LSU’s season so far was looked at in terms of an academic semester, the Tigers have barely cracked a book. This Saturday, LSU plays host to 18th-ranked Alabama in the first test of what promises to be a long and tough Southeastern Conference schedule.
Brady said Wednesday’s performance could be a preview of the kind of games Tiger fans will see throughout conference play. LSU’s starting five of: Temple, Ronald Dupree, Brian Beshara, Torris Bright and Lamont Roland are all averaging in double-figures in scoring and playing on average more than 27 minutes per contest.
Brady said he hopes all five will keep their scoring averages high, but knows the minutes will have to stay the same or increase as the Tigers play through their SEC schedule, making fatigue a factor. But Brady is not using it as an excuse.
“I’ve got what I’ve got,” he said. “We’re where we are with what we have. I can’t be offering that up every game and I’m not. I’m not discussing fatigue anymore.”
What Brady is discussing is the fact that, at times Wednesday night, his team was pushed around on the boards and beaten to the baseline in transition. Brady said he expected that to happen against what he called a very tough Wyoming squad. He cautioned the kind of physical play displayed by Wyoming will intensify starting Saturday with Alabama.
“The quality of the athlete is better, the conditioning of the other teams is going to be excellent,” he said. “Our team needs to be ready to play. We need to be mentally ready to go.”
His team’s mental toughness is what Brady believes will lead to some tough SEC wins.
“This (Wednesday’s game) is an example of how SEC games are going to be for us,” he said. “I think we’re going to be involved in a lot of close games. Hopefully, we’ll be able to win our share of those.”