If familiarity breeds comfort, then the sixth-seeded LSU Tigers should feel right at home tonight when they battle the No. 11 seed University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers in the first-round of the NCAA Tournament at Taco Bell Arena in Boise, Idaho.
Despite playing more than 2,000 miles from home, the Tigers should handle the Blazers’ full-court pressure on defense along with their up-tempo offense, LSU coach John Brady said. LSU will face both challenges during an 8:50 p.m. CBS tipoff.
UAB (21-10, 10-6 Conference USA) won five of its last six games. The only loss came to conference champion Louisville 74-67 on Friday at the C-USA Tournament.
The Blazers average 77.8 points per game while yielding 71.5 points per contest. Senior guard Donell Taylor leads the squad with 15.6 points per game.
The Tigers score 75.5 points per game while their opponents take a 71-point average. Southeastern Conference Player of the Year forward Brandon Bass leads the team, averaging 17.1 points and nine rebounds.
LSU (20-9, 13-5 SEC) faced a similar full-court press when it played No. 4 Kentucky for the second time this season in last week’s SEC Tournament semifinal game. LSU lost both meetings but forced the Wildcats into overtime during the SEC semifinal on Saturday.
“We have faced [the press defense] all season,” Brady said during Monday’s SEC Coaches teleconference. “We have managed that all year and I think we have handled it the best we can.”
The Tigers must not let the Blazers set the pace, said point guard Tack Minor.
“We played them last year and they pressed,” Minor said. “That’s all they do. They press and they run. They want to play up-tempo ball, and we [are not] going to play that. We’re going to slow it down and make them play our ball.”
LSU defeated UAB 78-62 in New Orleans last season. But the Tigers must bring their “A-game” during the opening round, Minor said.
Last season that same UAB team shocked No. 1 seed Kentucky 76-75 during a second-round game as the No. 8 seed.
“They’ve got the same team they had last year,” Minor said. “I know they’re not going to roll over. You just get one chance, and if you lose a game you’re out.”
Excited about playing his first NCAA Tournament game, Minor said he eagerly awaits the late tipoff tonight. The Tigers lost to Oklahoma in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament last season — a feeling Minor would rather forget.
“We had to get that monkey off our back from last year, going to the NIT,” Minor said. “We had to do something special this year to redeem ourselves. We got a [SEC West Championship] ring. We’re going to the NCAA tournament. You can’t get no better than that.”
While the Tigers’ intensity level should be high for the Tournament, Brady said the squad must keep an even-keeled approach.
“We look forward to playing UAB, and we can’t wait until it gets here,” Brady said. “We don’t need to make anything more special about the first-round game. We are going to prepare for UAB, and [the players] know the excitement surrounding it. We are going to prepare like it’s another quality opponent.”
LSU has won 14 of its last 18 contests, and guard Darrel Mitchell said the Tigers will control their own destiny.
“We can go all the way if we play the way we’ve been playing in the last eight or nine games,” Mitchell said. “It’s going to be hard to beat us. We just need to go out with the mindset of wanting to win.”
If LSU wins, it will face the winner of the Arizona vs.Utah St. game.
Minor said of LSU’s possible Tournament opponents: “We’ve just got to keep our heads straight and we can beat them. We can beat UAB. We can beat Arizona. We can beat Oklahoma State. We can beat anybody if we just keep our heads right and play ball.”