No place like home
Tigers looking for strong effort against Alabama
The LSU men’s basketball team went toe-to-toe with Vanderbilt most of the way Wednesday night, leading the Commodores as late as the 16:09 mark and getting within four points with under five minutes to play. Vanderbilt finished on a 13-2 run, however, to snap a two-game losing streak and leave Trent Johnson’s squad on the wrong end of a 76-61 final.
With the loss, LSU fell to 0-5 in Southeastern Conference road games.
Now the Tigers return to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for a two-game homestand matching them against the two teams that finished atop the old SEC West last year.
LSU faces Alabama at 6 p.m. Saturday in the annual Gold game, followed by a visit from No. 20 Mississippi State on Tuesday night.
Both opponents entered the season in the top 25.
“To have both of these games at home, there’s some upside to it,” senior forward Storm Warren said. “We had that long stretch where we were on the road at the beginning, and now we’re coming back home with a chance to look strong and get going as we close the conference season out.”
LSU (13-10, 3-6) is 3-1 in the SEC at home with the only loss to top-ranked Kentucky, but its struggles on the road have kept the Tigers in the bottom half of the league standings. Alabama has won three straight since losing four in a row from Jan. 14-25, but the Crimson Tide (16-7, 5-4) can’t afford many more slips if it hopes to reach its first NCAA tournament since 2006.
JaMychal Green anchors Alabama’s inside game, averaging 14.1 points and 7.2 rebounds. Trevor Releford averages 12.4 points and 3.1 assists.
Earlier this week, Alabama coach Anthony Grant suspended junior forward Tony Mitchell indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. Mitchell is the Crimson Tide’s second-leading scorer and rebounder, but he scored only 25 points during the four-game losing streak.
Judging by its performance Tuesday night, Alabama may be just as good without him.
The Crimson Tide surged to a 68-50 victory at Auburn, which had lost just once before at home. Green led Alabama with 19 points, followed by Releford with 15.
“It doesn’t surprise me, because JaMychal Green and Trevor Releford are very talented, very good basketball players,” Johnson said. “Usually when you’re as talented and as deep as they are, you have guys who haven’t played that are going to step up.”
Mitchell did not travel with the team Friday and will miss his second straight game.
LSU looks to continue playing the kind of defense that has held 12 opponents below 60 points, but must find a way to get sophomore guard Andre Stringer going. Stringer, one of the team’s best 3-point shooters, is 0-for-17 from beyond the arc in LSU’s past three games.
As a team, the Tigers are shooting only 32.3 percent from 3-point range.
Johnson said he will keep Stringer in the starting lineup. Eddie Ludwig, who started some games earlier this year, will continue to come off the bench.
“The thing I like is that in the last three games, he’s probably taken maybe four bad shots,” Johnson said of Stringer. “I’m staying with him, and so are his teammates, which are probably more important than me.”
As much as getting shots to fall, LSU will put an emphasis Saturday on taking care of the basketball.
The Tigers struggled against Alabama’s pressure defense when the teams met Jan. 11 in Tuscaloosa, allowing the Crimson Tide to score 25 points off turnovers. The loss kept Johnson’s team from starting 2-0 in SEC play and came only two days after Alabama’s football team routed LSU in the BCS title game.
Going back to Johnson’s second season at the helm, Alabama has won five straight against the Tigers. Those five wins are by an average score of 66-48.
“I wouldn’t say this is revenge at all,” sophomore guard Ralston Turner, an Alabama native, said.
“This is all about us climbing a ladder. They’re the next opponent on our schedule. We’re not worried about the football game and we’re not worried about what happened the first time. All we can control is what happens now.”
The Tigers will begin the two-game homestand wearing gold uniforms. Fans who attend Saturday’s game are encouraged to wear gold.
“We need to concern ourselves, consume ourselves, with us — what’s in that locker room,” Johnson said. “Play passionate, play together and play as hard as you can. Continue to trust each other. Continue to play through adversity. Try to have fun. If we do those things, we’ll have a chance to compete at a high level versus this team and every other team moving forward.”