In the blink of an eye, LSU was up 7-0.
Standing in Coleman Coliseum, a place where the Tigers were historically dismal, LSU got a jumper from junior forward Johnny O’Bryant III, sophomore guard Malik Morgan knocked down a
3-pointer and freshman forward Jordan Mickey got a second-chance layup.
For a team notorious for its slow starts, the quick flurry
was welcomed.
It wasn’t sustained, though, as Crimson Tide “do-it-all” point guard Trevor Releford sliced and diced his way through the Tigers’ man-to-man defense for 17 first half points and Alabama brought a 36-23 lead into the locker room.
After the Tigers’ eventual 82-80 loss, freshman forward Jarell Martin said the Tigers knew what had
to change.
“We just have to come out and jump out on teams — not let them get us first and stopping them on defense,” Martin said.
And that’s how it went for the next two games. First, the Tigers (14-6, 5-3 Southeastern Conference) raced out to a 22-6 lead on No. 11 Kentucky before holding on for an 87-82 upset. Then, four days later, a 26-9 opening run spurred an 88-74 victory against Arkansas.
Credit for maintaining the quick starts goes to the emergence of a 2-3 zone that features Martin back in the starting lineup, manning the back of the zone with the 6-foot-9-inch O’Bryant and 6-foot-8-inch Mickey.
With the hype surrounding the Wildcats and a national television audience watching, a fast start wasn’t necessarily an anomaly
against Kentucky.
But putting the landmark win behind them and having a similar start against Arkansas pointed to maturation, according to LSU coach Johnny Jones.
“I thought they came out very focused tonight,” Jones said after the Arkansas victory. “One thing we didn’t want to do was for [Arkansas] to become a confident basketball team out the locker room.”
The length and scrappiness of the newfound zone forced Kentucky into five turnovers in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s game and limited Arkansas to an abysmal 25.8 percent shooting clip through the first 20 minutes.
“We can put length out there,” Jones said. “It gives us the opportunity to wall up sometimes and take away driving lanes and put our post guys in better positions.”
Jones said the team’s recent success doesn’t mean the Tigers will switch exclusively to a zone — evident Saturday when the Tigers played possessions of both man-to-man defense and a box-and-one.
With the zone’s recent efficiency comes the usual shortcomings. For most of the second half, Arkansas was able to move the ball to the most vulnerable part of any 2-3 zone — the middle — leading to outlet passes and five made 3-pointers for the Hogs.
“They got to the rim more, kicked out for a lot of shots,” Martin said. “We’ve got to do a better job of communicating and keeping teams out of it.”
Whether spurred by the zone or hot shooting, the Tigers know fast starts are needed when they hit the road for three of their next
four games.
And as if a reminder was needed, that night in Tuscaloosa is still fresh in the Tigers’ minds.
“You never want to come out and get hit first. You always want to hit first,” Mickey said. “It’s good for us to establish ourselves early.”