Although they call Glen Davis “Big Baby,” it was J. J. Redick that was crying as he saw the last seconds tick off of his season and his career.
Freshman Garrett Temple stalked the National Player of the Year the entire game, forcing him to shoot 3-of-19 from the floor and holding him to a season-low 11 points.
Everybody remembers the kid that was scared of his own shadow. Well, don’t be too hard on Redick because his shadow has a name: Garrett Temple.
Redick averaged better than 27 points a contest this season, but then again, Temple might just be the best on-the-ball defender in the nation.
I have heard some students earlier in the year bad-mouthing Temple because he doesn’t score a lot. But everybody knows the famous cliche’: “Defense wins championships.”
And nobody can argue with Temple’s defensive skills.
Here is a list of names Temple and other LSU guards have victimized this season. Connecticut’s Rashad Anderson scored 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting. Chris Lofton of Tennessee was held to 2 points. Alabama’s Ronald Steele and Kentucky’s Rajon Rando scored 9 points while Florida’s Taurean Green was held to 3 points.
Temple’s defense has been there all year long.
In fact, LSU coach John Brady had no doubt about who was going to guard Redick the entire game, even though he led everyone else on.
“I said all that stuff in the paper about maybe we’ll guard Tasmin Mitchell on him or Darrel Mitchell,” Brady said. “I didn’t mean that. We were going to guard Garrett on him from the beginning. I said that because those other teams and coaches read the paper a little bit.”
Apparently Brady forgot to tell someone else too.
“He didn’t tell me,” Temple said. “I thought Darrel was going to be taking over at least a little bit. I thought I was gonna get a little rest, but I’m not mad about it. We won the game. I was able to breathe a little bit and keep my endurance, because he runs a lot. My teammates helped me out a lot when I wasn’t able to stay with him. I made him pass it out. [My track shoes] they work.”
It’s a lock that some student will create a Facebook group called “Thank God for Garrett Temple’s Track Shoes.”
Maybe he will finally get some of the defensive recognition that is showered upon Tyrus Thomas.
Kudos to Temple and the rest of the LSU team for their first Elite Eight appearance since 1987.
 
Matt is a print journalism sophomore. Contact him at [email protected]