Think of last weekend as an example of how well or how poorly the upcoming trip to the NCAA tournament can go for LSU’s men’s basketball team.The No. 20 Tigers (27-6, 14-4) played two games at the Southeastern Conference tournament — one win and one loss — with each result showcasing LSU’s strengths and weaknesses as a  postseason team.”About a week before we played Kentucky in Lexington I made the comment to the team that from here moving forward everyone we were going to play would be really good and things were going to get tougher,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “As opposed to overanalyzing what went wrong … it just so happens that a play here or there cost us a game or two.”LSU entered the postseason facing questions about its defense, as the Tigers were outscored, 82-36, in the paint in losses to Vanderbilt and Auburn to end the regular season.”When you lose, everybody has a tendency to get those microscopes out,” Johnson said. “But I always evaluate what’s going on from an effort standpoint, from an execution and from a team standpoint. I think you have to tip your hat to competition.”LSU seemed to answer those questions in its Friday quarterfinal against Kentucky. The Tigers held first-team All-SEC forward Patrick Patterson to 8 points from the field while limiting the Wildcats’ Jodie Meeks to 8 points on the way to a 67-58 win.”We played great defense against Kentucky. They only scored 50-something points,” said senior guard Garrett Temple.Whatever progress the team made Friday seemed to evaporate in the Tigers’ Saturday semifinal against eventual champion Mississippi State. The Bulldogs capitalized on 24 points from the free throw line, and Mississippi State center Jarvis Varnado worked his way to 19 points, seven rebounds and seven blocks for a 67-57 win against the Tigers.”Defensively we played pretty well,” Temple said. “Mississippi State was 20-of-30 from the field, and maybe we fouled them a little too much.”LSU’s shooting offense — one of the keys to the regular season SEC championship — didn’t improve in the tournament after dropping off in the final games of the conference season.The Tigers’ averaged 45 percent shooting from the field during the regular season but shot 36.2 and 32.1 percent in the losses to Vanderbilt and Auburn, respectively.Their shooting woes continued in both tournament games.LSU beat Kentucky while shooting 39 percent from the field. The Tigers shot 31 percent — a season low — in the loss to Mississippi State while shooting 27 percent in the second half. “Defense will take care of itself because defense wins championships,” said junior forward Tasmin Mitchell. “When we get our offense back it can add on to what we’re doing on defense.”Mitchell and senior guard Marcus Thornton, the Tigers’ leading scorers, will play a big role in getting the offense back on track.Thornton, the SEC Player of the Year, averaged 36 percent from the field during the SEC tournament after averaging 46.7 percent during the regular season. Thornton shot 0-of-6 from 3-point range against Mississippi State and was 3-of-13 from long range in both games combined.”Players aren’t trying to miss shots; they aren’t trying to miss free throws,” Johnson said. “We’re getting the right guys shooting the ball, and they’re shooting the ball with confidence. Sometimes it’s just unfortunate that they don’t go down.”——Contact David Helman at [email protected]