LSU coach John Brady said defense was the “saving grace” for the Tigers in their 62-55 win Wednesday night over Ole Miss. “We can’t put it on our defense every night to win the game,” Brady said. “We need to get better offensively.” LSU shot 45.7 percent from the field but held Ole Miss to only 40 percent shooting. Brady said he thinks his team needs to improve timing and stop hurrying offensively. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think we were just going to walk in here tonight and win the game by 20 [points] unless we played really well,” Brady said. Brady said he needs junior forward Glen Davis to perform better in future games, including Saturday against the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark. Davis recorded 11 points while shooting 4-9 from the field. “I didn’t think he exerted the energy that he needed to,” Brady said. Davis said Ole Miss’ double-teaming limited his production. “It’s tough when you get double-teamed in the game,” Davis said. “Fighting to get in position … fighting to do a lot. It’s just how it is. It gets frustrating, but you just have to play through it.” Before Wednesday’s game, Davis averaged 19.2 points per game in 16 games. “We are winning,” Davis said. “That’s the main focus. That’s what we want to do. But also there are some personal team goals that we want to accomplish as a team. We want to execute better. But you know, we got the game won today.” Davis said he was glad that sophomore guard Terry Martin and sophomore forward Tasmin Mitchell “stepped up” offensively. “We’ve got to find our roles as an offense,” Mitchell said. Sophomore guard Garrett Temple struggled with 0-5 from the field but recorded seven assists and four rebounds. “We’re not playing well, but we’re still winning,” Temple said. “We need to play better to get back where we were last year and even exceed what we did last year. We know we have high expectations.” Temple said he wants a more consistent offensive rhythm but was pleased that LSU held Ole Miss to 23 first-half points. Brady said holding Ole Miss to 55 points showed defense strength that he wants to repeatedly see. “Fifty-five points…I’ll take it every game from here out, if that’s what we do,” Brady said.
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