LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor said one thing is certain about LSU’s first-round matchup against Alabama in the 2011 Southeastern Conference Tournament: The teams’ styles couldn’t be more different.
The No. 7-seed Lady Tigers (18-12, 8-8) clash against No. 10-seed Crimson Tide (16-13, 5-11) today at 2:30 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., with a second-round battle against No. 2-seed Kentucky 24 hours later.
“We’re 100 percent contrasting styles of play,” Chancellor said. “They want to press; we don’t press. They want to get up and down; we don’t get up and down.”
The Crimson Tide began their SEC season with nine straight losses, but they enter the postseason with wins in five of their last seven games.
One of those defeats came Jan. 9 at the hands of LSU, 72-43, LSU’s third-largest margin of victory this season.
Alabama coach Wendell Hudson said the Crimson Tide have learned from their errors in the 29-point loss and have made “some small adjustments” to correct them.
“The matchup wasn’t hard to figure out. We just weren’t shooting the ball very well,” Hudson said. “We had some wide-open opportunities. … If we can score and get the game into a transition game, we’ll feel pretty good about our chances to be successful.”
Hudson said LSU’s defense will also be a challenge to overcome. The Lady Tigers finished the regular season No. 1 in the SEC in scoring defense and No. 2 in field-goal and 3-point percentage defense.
“The biggest thing that makes them so difficult is they play a half-court man-to-man,” Hudson said. “LSU doesn’t extend their defense the way a lot of other teams do.”
But Alabama has a few productive players of its own. It boasts the No. 4-ranked scoring offense with senior forward Tierney Jenkins, junior guard Ericka Russell and freshman forward Kaneisha Horn, the team’s top three scorers.
Jenkins earned First-Team All-SEC and All-Defensive Team honors, announced Tuesday, and she’s No. 2 in the conference with 15.7 points per game and No. 1 in rebounding with 10.9 per game. Horn was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
“You can tell everyone on that team respects Jenkins as a player and the things she’s done in her career,” said LSU senior guard Katherine Graham, another SEC All-Defensive Team honoree. “She’s a tremendous person, and she brings a good low-post presence.”
The No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament is Tennessee, which has won 19 straight games and finished 16-0 in conference play. Kentucky finished five games back in the standings at 11-5. No. 3 Vanderbilt and No. 4 Georgia also earned first-round byes with 10-6 records.
Kentucky coach Matthew Mitchell said either LSU or Alabama will present challenges to the Wildcats, even though they knocked off both teams this season.
“We played LSU pretty recently, so that may help our kids if LSU in fact beats Alabama,” Mitchell said. “In SEC tournament play, the preparation time is not there, so it doesn’t become as much about what the other team’s doing. It’s what you’re able to do well.”
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