LSU basketball team making progress
LSU’s basketball season opener is less than one week away and coach Will Wade has mostly positive comments about his team.
What has Wade encouraged is the manner in which the Tigers have performed over the past two weeks – including scrimmages against South Alabama and Texas.
“Over the last ten day to two weeks, this team has improved a bunch,” said Wade at his luncheon at the L’Auberge Casino on Thursday afternoon. “We have kicked it in another gear. The players understand things offensively. They understand things defensively.
“October was a tough month. The guys are really working hard. I could see this morning when they were working out that they are ready to move forward to playing games. It’s time to get going.”
There is a good chance that three freshmen will be in the starting lineup when LSU takes on Southeastern Louisiana at the PMAC on Tuesday. Ja’Vonte Smart will join returnees Tremont Waters and Skylar Mays on the perimeter.
The second freshman starter will be post player Naz Reid. It appears that freshman Emmitt Williams will be the other starting post player. In the two scrimmages, Reid was usually paired with Williams and Kavell Bigby-Williams was matched with freshman Darius Days.
“We have been rotating two at a time – one big guy with one smaller guy,” Wade said. “In certain times, we will play the two big guys (Reid and Bigby-Williams) together. In non-conference play, there are more 6-foot-5 and 6-6 post players, so it is hard to play two 6-10 guys. That will change in the conference.”
Even though there are only three returning scholarship players from last season’s team – Waters, Mays and Daryl Edwards, Wade believes this squad is more advanced than the one a year ago.
“We are a lot further along this year,” Wade said. “Last year, we had to teach the players how to do things. This year, the older guys know how to do things. The communication on the court is getting better. The ball is finding the open guy. The guys are trusting each other more.
“The new players buy in to winning. Now, we still have to shore up our defense and rebounding. I think the players are enough in for us to be pretty good in the early season.”
With the influx of talent, Wade will have the Tigers playing at more up-tempo pace this season. He also expects the defense to be better than it was last year.
“We are going to play a lot faster on offense,” Wade said. “We will have five or six guys score in double figures. We won’t have somebody average 18 to 20 points a game, but we’ll have a few score between 10 and 14 points. I think we’ll average 80-plus points this year.
“We are going to press a little bit. Our half-court defense is improved. People talk about our defense being No. 136 in the country last year. But, we were 300 the year before. Now, we must make that same improvement to be a top 25 defense. I think we can lead the conference in steals and turnovers forced.”
Wade said that freshman wing Aundre Hyatt and sophomore post player Courtese Cooper will be redshirted. Junior point guard Danya Kingsby has not been cleared for full contact due to a medical condition. Junior wing Marlon Taylor, who broke a finger, may be ready for the SLU game.
“I like the versatility of this team,” Wade said. “One scrimmage, we scored 100 points (against South Alabama). The other scrimmage was a slugfest and we scored in the 60s (against Texas). I like this team. There is a lot to be excited about.
“We’re excited just to get going. There is something tangible in front of the players now. Scrimmaging is great, but there is nothing better than a game. They pull the curtain open Tuesday. We are ready to show people who we are.”
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