LSU hopes to keep momentum
Tigers take on Georgia, try to extend win streak
Entering the second Saturday of the month, the LSU men’s basketball team sat ninth in the Southeastern Conference standings with three wins in nine league games.
Three straight victories have gotten the Tigers back to the .500 mark in conference play, bumped them to a share of fourth place in the SEC and even created some talk around town of a possible postseason push.
LSU (16-10, 6-6) looks to stay on the right track Wednesday when Georgia (12-14, 3-9) visits the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
“It’s real important we remain focused in terms of knowing how hard we have to play and continue to improve for us to have any level of success moving forward,” coach Trent Johnson said. “For the most part, I think we’ve been pretty consistent and have gotten better at that.”
Going back to nonconference play, LSU looked like the kind of team that could make a run for the postseason in reeling off seven straight wins, the fifth of the seven a 67-59 victory over ranked Marquette before a lively PMAC crowd.
But the Tigers were at a crossroads Jan. 28 after taking a 74-50 beating by Kentucky, their sixth loss in eight January games.
LSU has won four of five since then, putting itself in position to challenge for an NCAA or NIT berth with more strong play to finish the year.
With the six conference wins, the Tigers have already exceeded their total of five league victories from the previous two seasons combined.
LSU shares fourth place in the SEC with Tennessee and Alabama. Vanderbilt is two games up for third.
“Coach Johnson always does a good job of keeping us grounded,” junior center Justin Hamilton said. “We’re just going to come in like we usually do and prepare for Georgia like any other team.”
During his Monday news conference, Johnson had a familiar line when asked about LSU’s rise in the standings.
“The bottom line for us is we just need to concentrate on the next game and the next possession,” he said. “I haven’t paid attention to the standings. I’m just trying to win the next game. That ain’t easy.”
Georgia comes to town leading only last-place South Carolina in the standings and looking once again to play the role of spoiler.
The Bulldogs went 21-12 last year, tied for third in the old SEC East and reached the NCAA tournament, but juniors Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie opted to leave school a year early and enter the NBA draft. Third-year coach Mark Fox has had to rely heavily on seniors Gerald Robinson and Dustin Ware, who along with freshman Kentavious Caldwell-Pope form one of the league’s better backcourts.
Robinson leads the Bulldogs at 14.1 points per game. Caldwell-Pope, the first McDonald’s All-American to sign with Georgia in nearly 20 years, averages 13.9 points and Ware adds 8.1.
In the coaching matchup, Fox probably won’t throw any surprises at Johnson — or vice versa.
Johnson and Fox have a long history that began when they coached together at the University of Washington in the early 1990s. Johnson later hired Fox as his top assistant at Nevada.
“Every game in league play for us has been a fist fight,” Johnson said. “We don’t expect anything different with Mark’s club coming in here.”
Georgia seemingly caught Mississippi State with its guard down Feb. 11, rolling into Starkville and scoring a 70-68 win in overtime. State was enjoying its 12th straight week in the national rankings and sat third in the SEC standings, but the loss to Georgia began a four-game slide that has the Bulldogs below .500 in the league.
So the Tigers know if they judge Georgia by its record, they too could find themselves on the wrong end of things.
“I know their season hasn’t gone the way they wanted it to, but they’re never going to give up,” sophomore guard Andre Stringer said. “We don’t expect them to come in here and lay down for us. That’s why we still have to make sure we keep our focus.”
Stringer and Ralston Turner, the team’s top two scorers last year, have picked up their play in recent games to help LSU improve its field goal percentage.
On the inside, Hamilton continues to be a force.
Since the Tigers moved into SEC play, the Iowa State transfer is averaging 15.8 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 53.6 percent from the field. Overall, he is averaging 13.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and shooting 52.5 percent.
Hamilton had 18 points and six boards Saturday at South Carolina as LSU scored its first SEC road win.
The Tigers return to the PMAC looking to build on a 5-1 mark at home in league play.
“We’re going to have to do everything right,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got to just handle our business the same way we have been.”