Coach Trent Johnson spent much of the offseason stressing defensive execution and effort to the LSU men’s basketball team.
He spent much of the Tigers’ first five outings shaking his head at some defensive performances, as Northwestern and Coastal Carolina often had their way offensively against LSU in two early losses.
But not on Sunday, as LSU (3-2) finally put together a consistent defensive outing. The Tigers forced 23 Georgia Tech turnovers and found a spark plug in freshman point guard Anthony Hickey to nab a 59-50 non-conference win and a fifth-place finish in the Charleston Classic.
“We actually won one at the defensive end against a good team,” Johnson said in a post-game radio interview. “I felt like the game was physical from start to finish. I told them that’s how we’re going to win games this year, by getting tough on that end of the point.”
Hickey keyed the Tigers all afternoon, pushing the ball in transition, scoring 20 points and running the Yellow Jacket guards ragged on the perimeter.
The speedy freshman hit a 3-pointer to give LSU the lead for good with five minutes to play, and sophomore guards Ralston Turner and Andre Stringer immediately followed with two more clutch treys.
“Anthony did a really good job keeping us in rhythm today,” Johnson said. “And then Ralston was kind of struggling but still stepped to that 3-pointer with confidence and made a big huge.”
Johnson credited senior forward Storm Warren, who seemingly struggled with an 0-for-11 shooting effort, for setting the tone.
“I thought Storm actually played really well,” Johnson said. “He looked at me like I’m crazy when I say that, but his intensity, taking three charges and grabbing crucial defensive rebounds were some big plays for