By David Steinle
Special to LSUsports.net
When LSU’s Jaime Lloreda drained two free throws with 9:20 remaining in the contest, it appeared the Fighting Tigers were well on their way to their biggest upset in a quarter of a century, as LSU held a 49-34 on No. 1-ranked Arizona.
Actually, the Tigers’ great run started with four minutes to go in the first half, when they went on a 10-0 run to grab a 29-22 lead over the Wildcats and eventually held a 32-26 lead at intermission. In that 13-minute stretch, LSU had outscored Arizona 30-12 and had Lute Olson’s club clearly befuddled.
But most championship teams aren’t going to give up their top ranking without a fight, and true to form, the Wildcats scratched and clawed their way back into the contest, eventually getting LSU’s lead down to 66-65 with 36 seconds remaining and leaving the crowd of nearly 10,000 at the PMAC in a state of shock.
Certainly, this scene couldn’t be playing out again. Time after time in the first five years of the John Brady era, LSU found itself on the verge of pulling off an upset, whether it be a minor one over a mid-level SEC team in the early years, or a big one, like games against Kentucky in 1998 and Georgia last year proved. Now, poised to pull off only its third victory over a No. 1-ranked team in school history and first since 1988, the Tigers were going to find a way to fall short.
But the final sequence of the game proved just how far Brady’s bunch has come. The Tigers guarded Arizona star Jason Gardner closely, so closely that he couldn’t get a good look at the basket, and eventually had the ball go out of bounds with less than a second left. The Wildcats had one chance to get the ball in bounds to try a quick shot, but Torris Bright tipped the inbounds pass away, and the Tigers had a 66-65 upset and maybe the impetus for another deep run into the NCAA Tournament.
Early on, the Tigers had to feel a little like the Greek legend of Sisyphus. Sisyphus, of course, kept trying to roll a huge boulder up a hill, but each time, it would come hurtling back down at him.
Such was the case for LSU in the first 16 minutes of the game. The Tigers were clearly the dominant team, forcing the Wildcats into several poor shots and pounding away on the boards, but after an early flurry that gave LSU a 6-4 lead, the Tigers could not get back over hump. The Wildcats even extended the lead to as much as six at the 7:52 mark of the first half, and the feeling that the nation’s No. 1 team would begin to pull away had to be coming on.
Instead of panicking, LSU got two free throws from Antonio Hudson, then used the 2-minute, 15-second media timeout to regroup. LSU quickly tied the game on back-to-back shots by Darrel Mitchell and Jaime Lloreda, but Arizona quickly responded by getting a key 3-pointer from Gardner for a 22-19 lead with 4:34 left before halftime.
Gardner’s shot could have been the death knell for LSU, but instead was a wake-up call. The Tigers responded with a 10-0 run, waking up a heretofore lethargic crowd and putting LSU ahead 29-22 with 1:23 left on another Hudson layup.
The sophomore from Grambling was just getting started on the biggest night of his basketball life, as he scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Holding a 32-26 halftime lead, the Tigers had to keep the momentum going, or else risk falling victim to an Arizona rally. LSU took care of the momentum part, outscoring the Wildcats 10-2 over the first five minutes of the second half and giving the Tigers a hard-to-believe 42-28 lead.
Faced with the relentless pressure by Brady’s defense and the deafening crowd, most teams would have folded, but to Arizona’s credit, Olson kept his team in the game, allowing the Wildcats to have an opportunity to win in the end.
To Brady’s credit, LSU did what it needed to do when it needed to do it to pull off the big upset, and maybe the next step in Brady’s program to move the Tigers to the next level.
Being part of that next level will involve coming down to Earth and winning games against the Big Easy duo of Tulane and New Orleans before the calendar turns to 2003 and the SEC season begins. But Brady and his Tigers have come too far to have a letdown now.