Recently, LSU men’s basketball has struggled due to its lack of player availability. Injuries have plagued LSU throughout the season as guards Adam Miller and Xavier Pinson have sat out several crucial games. Miller went down before the season began with a torn ACL, which is expected to sideline him for the remainder of the year.
Pinson went down during the meeting with conference rival Ole Miss on Feb. 1 but came back to play for 25 minutes against the Aggies on Tuesday.
Head Coach Will Wade understands the pain LSU fans are currently feeling. Wade agreed that “fans deserve to be upset” after the rough patch LSU has gone through. Before Tuesday night’s matchup against Texas A&M, he emphasized that it is not any one person’s fault.
“You either win or you lose, no points for trying,” Wade said. “There is no one to blame but ourselves. I know what we need to do, I know what has to happen.”
When Wade was asked about the missing piece to the puzzle, he commented, “The late game pushes have been great. The plus side is that we don’t give in, and we keep fighting, but we can’t let it get that deep.”
In retrospect, LSU has gained several things through this slump – players have made steady progress as many have stepped up to fill more involved roles.
Wade emphasized the need for urgency throughout his Monday press conference. “We have such a wide number to come back from and that makes it very challenging. We have to minimize the damage early on, and we would reap some rewards for fighting back in the end.”
Tuesday’s contest showed perfect execution of Wade’s pre-game vision. One of the more pivotal players in this contest was Tari Eason, who put up a resounding 25 points and 12 rebounds.
“I just want the team to win and us to get back on the right track,” Eason said. “Wade has been really good at making sure I am comfortable, he’s also helped me in film and certain things like that to become a better leader.”
The game plan from Wade seems to resonate with the starting five seen on the floor Tuesday night. That rotation of players is undefeated this season when sharing the hardwood.
Another area of the game that should be spotlighted is the rebounding effort by LSU. Throughout the early stages of this season, the rotation and schemes were being tossed around in hopes of finding the perfect fit.
Efton Reid, starting center, seemed to be the perfect solution to LSU’s past defensive problems during his recruitment. The 7-foot man was placed right into the fire during the Southeastern Conference, but he found his way through the flames. Reid doesn’t always put up colossal numbers on the glass, but that is not always his main focus.
Wade elaborated on the matter, “When they have a bigger guy who is a good offensive rebounder, we basically just tell him to block him out and make sure that guy doesn’t get the ball.”
After Tuesday’s victory over the Aggies, Reid said, “Rebounding has been emphasized tremendously. I’m working to get more confident in myself on the court, it’s a great trait that I need to build on.”
Reid and his teammates believe the only direction from here is up.
“Everyone wants to win, we are all buying in. When you get a team to buy in you can do tremendous things with that.”
If this team can stay healthy, they are destined to do great things this post season. Wade can clearly emphasis a game plan to his players, and they are skilled enough to follow it exactly. This comes with the close relationships the players have with their coach. Wade is a coach who is constantly looking to build up his players’ foundation.
Confidence is an important theme in this team as they seem to play the best when they feel the best.
“I’m working to get more confident in myself on the court; it’s a great trait that I need to build on,” said Reid.
Playing with a huge amount of confidence usually breeds success for the player or team playing with it.
Another player who has developed a close relationship with Wade is Eason. “Wade has been really good at making sure I am comfortable; he’s also helped me in film and certain things like that to become a better leader,” said Eason.
The recent struggles of LSU men’s basketball show exactly what one would expect from a young team experiencing devastating injuries. Despite this, they have managed to keep themselves in the post season discussion as they currently hold a seventh-place ranking in the SEC. The slump was hard to witness, but it helped the team learn. Now, the team is motivated to get back to doing what it does best: winning.
