It’s never good when a coach is “disappointed” after a weekend of scrimmages.
LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson used that word to describe the Tigers’ rebounding and defense following scrimmages against Tulane and Southern Miss this past weekend.
“One of the things we wanted to accomplish out of this is finding out where we were from an intensity standpoint and physical standpoint, and quite frankly it was disappointing at times,” Johnson said Tuesday at a news conference.
Johnson said the only positive he can take out of the weekend is the issues can be fixed.
“We charted everything,” he said. “Against Tulane, we had six missed blockouts. Against Southern Miss, we had 17. That’s correctable.”
Johnson said his four freshmen are behind defensively but expects them all to be ready when the season starts Nov. 12 against Northwestern State.
“What’s good about it is they’re not pleased,” he said. “As intense as practice has been and as much as they’ve been thrown in the fire, they’ve held up physically as good as anybody.”
LSU played Tulane on Saturday then spent the night in Hattiesburg, Miss., before playing the Golden Eagles on Sunday.
Sophomore forward Eddie Ludwig said against Tulane each team would have 10 possessions and switch, but the scrimmage against Southern Miss was more like a real game.
Ludwig said the freshmen handled themselves well during the course of the weekend.
“You could tell coming out they weren’t really sure what to expect, but once they got in the flow of the game and got under control and started handling the pressure well, that was a positive,” he said.
Ludwig said he was thrilled the Tigers could get on the road and room together before the season to help build team chemistry.
“It gives you a little taste of what it’s like to travel, which we’ll be doing in the season, and that’s good for the freshmen,” Ludwig said.
Freshman guard Andre Stringer said he had a few jitters playing against another college team for the first time even though there were no fans in attendance.
“The intensity is very high,” Stringer said. “I have a lot of work to do. It’s going to be a long road, but I’m going to work hard to get there.”
Stringer, who is the all-time leading scorer at Forest Park High School in Mississippi, said he’s comfortable playing in the half-court set or playing fast paced, but the focus has been on the latter.
“Coach wants us to push the ball this year,” Stringer said. “We’ve been working on being a faster team. We did work on that a little bit in the scrimmages.”
Johnson said junior forward Malcolm White was rusty, but he said that’s expected because White sat out a season after transferring.
“When I say rusty, he was on the court longer than I would have liked,” Johnson said. “Malcolm hasn’t played in a year, and right now he’s moving a little too fast.”
Johnson said junior center Justin Hamilton has been cleared to practice after suffering a concussion, and junior forward Storm Warren should be practicing after shoulder and ankle injuries. Junior forward Dennis Harris is out with a bruised heel.
Harris didn’t play Sunday, and Warren only played four minutes, according to Johnson.
The Tigers will scrimmage at home Friday.
 
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Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]