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Boot Up: A Deep Dive and Inside Look at The Escape JobBoot Up: A Deep Dive and Inside Look at The Escape Job

Boot Up: A Deep Dive and Inside Look at The Escape Job

Worsham: Tigers Finding New Ways to Win on Road

Here are the facts heading into No. 19 LSU’s Wednesday road game at Texas A&M (8 p.m., ESPN2).

Yes, the Tigers are winners of nine straight, including three road conference games.

Yes, that puts them in elite company, joining just Tennessee, Villanova, and Washington as Power 6 squads yet to lose a conference game.

Yes, the Tigers must play better after winning two of those road games in overtime, including Saturday’s statistically borderline-impossible escape at Missouri.

None of these things are mutually exclusive. LSU has played well, and head coach Will Wade is happy with the start, but they must also play better if they are to remain in that small remaining contingent of unbeatens.

“If it was easy to win on the road, there’d be a lot more teams on that list, and three of our six (conference wins) are on the road,” Wade said Monday. “We’ve got to be better, or it’s going to turn on us.

“I am proud of what we’ve done. It’s hard. The hardest thing to do in college basketball is to win on the road.”

That’s why Wade takes umbrage to the prevailing storyline that hung over the heads of the Tigers as they began SEC play this season – that LSU had not won a road game in a year.

While that was true in the Gregorian sense – the Tigers did not win a true road game between Jan. 11, 2018 and Jan. 11, 2019 – it was also a bit of a contrived storyline.

“That was a little overblown,” Wade laughed. “We didn’t play a road game in eight of those months. That was a little bit overblown – a lot overblown. I’m just pointing out the facts. In eight of those months, there was no road game to be played, and in two of those months, there was only one road game to be played.”

Overblown or not, LSU has long since silenced that talking point, thanks to wins at Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Missouri.

Of course, those wins included a multitude of errors. While the Tigers ran away from the ranked Rebels, they allowed Arkansas to force overtime after holding a large second half lead, and needed a 14-point comeback in the final two minutes to knock off Missouri.

During Monday’s film session, Wade didn’t even play the comeback for his players. He was worried about the need for a comeback in the first place.

“I’m more worried about staying out of that position – being 14 down with two-and-a-half minutes left,” he said. “I haven’t even watched the last part. I cut the film off at three minutes. I haven’t watched the last part, because I didn’t want that to taint how I felt about the game. I’ve only watched the first 37 minutes, and I didn’t particularly care for the things I saw in the first 37 minutes.”

Wade specifically pointed out LSU’s poor finishing at the rim, dearth of paint touches, and lack of aggression. He felt Missouri dictated to his team for the majority of the game, and road contests demand the guests do the opposite.

“One thing you’ve got to do on the road is overwhelm the other team with your spirit and your play and the way you attack,” Wade said. “We haven’t been able to do that. That’s one reason the games have been different. We’ve tried to play different ways based on who we’re playing. Outside of Ole Miss, we haven’t been able to impose our will on the road. We’ve got to get back to doing that.”

Still, a year ago, as LSU found road wins far more difficult to come by, Wade often said his team only had one or two ways to win games.

Already in 2019, they’ve shown the ability to win in a variety of manners. At Ole Miss, it was second half dominance on both ends. At Arkansas, it was a fast start and a gritty stand in the face of a strong comeback. Against Missouri, it was grinding through a poor shooting night to somehow find a way.

“It just shows what type of team we are,” said sophomore guard Tremont Waters, who ranks third in the SEC in conference scoring (17.8 points per game) and first in assists (7.7). “The Ole Miss game, the second half, we took over. Arkansas, we had a big lead and let up, but that shows we’re able to not give in when teams are going on runs. The Missouri win was crazy because we were down 14, and to be able to focus in is a great feeling that we came together as a team, even if we’re not making shots to start the game, we’ll find a way to pull it out.”

Skylar Mays, whose nine-points-in-30-seconds outburst late sparked the Missouri comeback, acknowledged the need to play better, in general, in College Station on Wednesday. But just as his confidence never wavered late in Columbia, he remains sure his team can come away with a win, because they can win in so many ways.

“It’s a tribute to the talent we have,” said Mays, who leads all SEC guards with a 130.0 offensive rating. “We won two of them in overtime. We’re willing to be in a dogfight. I think we’ve got a lot of guys who have toughness to them, and we’re a really connected group.”

Notes

  • Days’ Day: Look for Darius Days to break out in the coming games for LSU. That’s what Wade asserted Monday, predicting his freshman forward would be a key piece in the next couple of contests. “Mark my words. He’s going to break out here,” said Wade. “I’m pretty good at predictions, right? Just remember I told you that. He brings so much more to us than just shooting. He’s got such a good court sense. He’s got a knack for the ball. He’s had some huge offensive rebounds for us. I want him to focus on those things and be great at those things, and the offense is going to come. He’s going to have some big, big games for us. There’s zero doubt in my mind.”
  • 37 to Forget: What went wrong against Missouri for the first 37 minutes? “We just didn’t get enough paint touches,” Wade said. “We missed some shots around the rim we normally make. We’re top-15 in the country in shooting percentage at the rim, but we just missed some things we would normally make. We were off balance, off kilter.”
  • Waters’ Assist: Waters finished with 9 assists against Missouri, but you might’ve missed his best one. On the game-tying free throw to force overtime, Waters stood behind shooter Emmitt Williams and shot an imaginary shot with Williams in a show of support and, he hoped, spiritual assistance. “I don’t know if anyone saw it, but I was there with him in spirit,” Waters said. “He missed the first one, I walked up to him, said, ‘We work on this all the time.’ He took a deep breath, walked back to the line. I took a step back, and as he was doing his routine, I did it with him. He made it. I’m not saying it was me, but I’m trying to stay as locked in as possible in those moments. It was a great feeling, and good to see him have that confidence.”