BATON ROUGE – The 19th-ranked LSU men’s basketball team looks to continue its success on the road Wednesday night when it travels to Reed Arena in College Station, Texas to take on the Texas A&M Aggies.
The Tigers and Aggies tip off at 8:05 p.m. CT Wednesday night on ESPN2 (Karl Ravech and Jon Sundvold) and the game will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Chris Blair and former LSU Coach John Brady) with Eagle 98.1 FM the flagship in Baton Rouge.
Worsham: Tigers Finding New Ways to Win on Road
LSU is 16-3 and 6-0 in the SEC, one of two undefeated teams remaining entering the week in the Southeastern Conference (with Tennessee). Texas A&M is 8-10 overall and 1-5 in the league.
The Tigers come into College Station after an emotional overtime win, 86-80, at Missouri on Saturday in which LSU stormed back from a 70-56 deficit with 2:14 to play to force overtime at 71-71 after a 15-1 run.
In the game, the Tigers, shooting just 35 percent for the game, got a personal 9-0 run from Skylar Mays on two three-pointers sandwiched around a layup and subsequent free throw that cut Missouri’s lead to 75-60. LSU would eventually tie the game with 2.2 seconds remaining on a free throw by Emmitt Williams.
In the five minute extra session, Javonte Smart hit two three-pointers that helped LSU get the lead for good, going on for the team’s ninth straight win overall and their third road win in the season.
Mays had a career high 24 points in the game while Reid and Smart each had 14 points and Tremont Waters scored 13 with nine assists.
A&M, while losers of its last three conference games (Auburn, Missouri, at Florida), did come through big for the league in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge with a 65-53 win at home on Saturday against Kansas State.
The Aggies rallied from a 30-26 halftime advantage, outscoring Kansas State, 39-23, in the second half to win by 12. Wendell Mitchell, TJ Starks and Savion Flagg combined to shoot 17-of-34 from the field with six treys and 45 of the 65 points Texas A&M scored. Starks had six assists and Flagg also had 12 rebounds and four assists.
A&M shot 51 percent for the game and outrebounded the Wildcats, 37-30. Texas A&M did turn the ball over 20 times and Kansas State got 25 of their 53 points off turnovers.
The Tigers will be trying to win a fourth road game in a season since the team won eight road contests in 2015.
LSU will return home after Wednesday night’s game for a Saturday game with Arkansas at 5 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Tickets are on sale at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office during weekday business hours and online at LSUTix.net.
Coach Wade met with the media late on Monday and here are some of his comments:
Opening Statement …
“Moving on we got A&M on Wednesday. They’re coming off a huge win over Kansas State. They played extremely well against Kansas State. They played well in their last two games. They had a 13-point lead at half at Florida. They didn’t play real well at Missouri before that. They’ve changed a few things and they’re playing much better. They’re playing at a high level. It will be another tough SEC road game for us. We’ve got learn to our lessons from this last game and move forward and get ready to go to A&M.”
On Javonte Smart‘s performance in overtime against Missouri …
“He’s got a good way about him. He’s done that all year for us. He’s made big shots. They bigger the game, the bigger the moment, the better he plays. That’s a tremendous quality to have. We really trust him.”
On overcoming deficits late in the game …
“We don’t want to keep pressing our luck. We don’t want to be down big and have to rally. I do like that our guys don’t give up and we stay in there. We’re tough. I like that part. We need to put ourselves in better positions and play better throughout the course of the game so that we’re not having to stage a furious rally or pull a rabbit out of the hat.”
On if the team has a target on its back being ranked and undefeated in the SEC …
“We’re not some traditional blue blood…We’re just not like that. I don’t think people are just overly excited when they see us coming. I do think, what happens is, you’ve got teams that want to make a stand and you’ve got a level of desperation and hunger and you’ve got a team that has good numbers and a team that can really turn your season around … But I do think because of our numbers and because we’re ranked, it’s a chance to win a ranked game at home. That gets the team and players a little more on edge and a little hungrier.”
On what national rankings mean this time of year …
“It doesn’t change who we are or what we have to do every day. If anything, it puts a little more focus on you especially when you go on the road. We just have to go about what we do and try to win.”
On building team culture…
“I think we have a good way about us. I like where we are, I think Skylar and Marshall bring a lot to us. Marshall has been here the same amount of time that Skylar has. He has a lot of perspective. We do not talk a whole lot about the past, we talk about moving forward. I like where we are and I really like where we are going. For us to be able to pull some wins out like we pulled out, we have a little toughness to us. That is not just individually, that is as a program. I feel good about where we are and I feel great about where we are going. Skylar is a huge part of that. Tremont being here last year has a huge part in it. One thing that has helped is these freshmen love being here at LSU. They love playing for LSU. After the game, our guys were grabbing the microphone from the flight attendant and yelling ‘geaux tigers.’ They enjoy it, they love being here, they love the culture down here, they love the people down here and that really helps. They are all in. Javonte has done a great job getting those guys on the same page and explaining to them how important LSU is to Louisiana and to the city. I think that has been a big help for us.
On comradery within team…
“We are connected. We have to compete a little bit harder and sustain it for longer periods of time. We have to better with the details. We have a good group. They all get along well and they all hang out together. We have great people. They are very good players, but they are great people. We have some different personalities that make things fun and make things work well.”
On the opportunity for Skylar at the end of the Missouri game…
“He has earned everything. Everything he gets, he deserves. You have no idea how hard of a worker he is. He is the best. You never bet against consistent behavior. He is one of the most consistent human beings I have ever been around. He is phenomenal and he earns everything he gets. He wants to win so bad. From the day we got here, there has not been one thing we have asked him to do that he has not done.”
On learning from difficult road games…
“Winning on the road is hard. The hardest thing to do in college basketball is to win on the road in conference play. It is going to be another really hard test at Texas A&M. People have no idea how difficult it is to win in college basketball on the road. There were two teams in our league that won on the road last week. Tennessee at Vanderbilt and us at Missouri. That is it. That is the list of the road wins in the SEC last week. Everybody has good players. Texas A&M has a great team. It is extremely difficult to win on the road in any league, especially a really good league like the SEC. We are going to have to play better and impose our will. We are going to have to be more aggressive and sustain what we do for longer periods of time. We have to be better or it is going to turn on us. We have two overtime wins on the road. We have to get better and that is what we are focused on. I am proud of what we have done. It is hard to do. I tell our guys all the time, ‘you separate yourself on the road.’”
On decreasing fouls from Naz Reid…
“We have looked at all of his fouls and I think we have a good plan. I think he will be fine. Part of it is he is guarding on the perimeter a lot. He has a lot of different things he has to do defensively. He has been phenomenal for us all year. He leads us in charges taken. He was nine for nine on the free throw line the other night. He had a couple offensive rebounds. He has been great. We certainly have looked at his and Darius Days‘ fouls in particular. I think there are some correctable things in there we can get right and will get right.”