LSU sophomore guard Bo Spencer is out for the Tigers’ game Saturday against the Ole Miss Rebels.”You can’t replace Bo Spencer,” said LSU junior forward Tasmin Mitchell. “He’s been our point guard and a leader on the floor.”Spencer sustained an ankle sprain during the Tigers’ 97-94 double-overtime victory against Mississippi State, and LSU coach Trent Johnson said he is day-to-day.The Tigers (20-4, 8-1) will have to face the Rebels (13-10, 4-5) without their third-leading scorer and No. 2 player in minutes played. LSU senior Garrett Temple will slide into the point guard position, and senior guard Terry Martin will start in Temple’s place. LSU senior center Chris Johnson, senior guard Marcus Thornton and Mitchell will start in their regular positions. Temple leads the Tigers with four assists per game and two steals per game. But Temple’s offense has been sporadic — he was 1-for-8 from the floor against Mississippi State. Martin is coming off one of his best offensive performances of the year. He scored 11 points and was a perfect 2-for-2 from long range. The Tigers played both overtimes without Spencer, and the offensive style shifted. “I had to handle the ball a little more,” Martin said. “We all had to handle the ball — the one, two and three.”Trent Johnson said he favored the defensive look the Tigers will have against the Rebels. “Their perimeters are big — 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 — so the match up, naturally, is pretty good,” Johnson said. The Tigers said they are expecting the best from the Rebels.”We just got through beating a team in double overtime,” Johnson said. “They beat them in regulation.”LSU beat Ole Miss, 83-51, on Jan. 17 in Oxford, Miss., but Trent Johnson is not looking in the past.”That wasn’t Ole Miss,” Trent Johnson said. “There are games like that, where for whatever reason, you’re not right and the other team is playing well, and boom it’s 20, it’s 30.” The Rebels have been decimated by injuries this season. Ole Miss sophomore guard Chris Warren, junior guard Eniel Polynice and Trevor Gaskins are all out for the season. The Rebels struggled early in conference play, but they’ve picked up a signature 85-80 win against Kentucky since their loss to LSU.”They’re more confident with their new roles and new guys they’ve got playing,” Mitchell said.The new guys include true freshman point guard Terrico White.”The freshman White — my goodness is he talented,” Trent Johnson said. White averaged 16.8 points and 5.0 rebounds in his last six games. “They’re a better basketball team,” Trent Johnson said. “We’re going to have to play well.”Trent Johnson said the Tigers needed to cut down their turnovers. “I don’t wanna say it has as much to do with fatigue as it has to do with taking care of the ball and not trying to make a home run play, so to speak, as opposed to a basketball play,” Trent Johnson said. ——Contact Amos Morale at [email protected]
Men’s Basketball: Tigers lose Spencer before rematch to Ole Miss
February 12, 2009