As the LSU band warmed up the PMAC crowd, players from the Houston Sports Group trickled onto the floor. At first there were three, and after a couple of minutes two more players joined the disorganized shoot around.
Finally, only fifteen minutes before game time, the Group was at full strength. Ninety minutes later the nine-man squad, which featured former college players, mismatched shorts and a coach sporting a Sopranos-like jogging suit was tied with the LSU basketball team at 51 with just over ten minutes to play in the second half.
The Tigers “re-Grouped,” and on the strength of a 23-5 run posted an 81-71 win in the season’s final exhibition game on Friday night. The win raised LSU’s preseason record to 1-1.
With the season opener just five days away, the Tigers were hoping to improve defensively, but it was the offense that sputtered for most of the game.
“We are not shooting the ball well,” said head coach John Brady, whose team shot 47 percent from the field. “We missed quality shots. We missed open shots. We missed dinks around the goal, fumbled balls, and can’t catch sometimes. It’s bizarre sometimes to watch it.”
Turnovers hampered LSU’s offensive rhythm throughout. The Tigers committed 21 turnovers including five in the first four minutes.
“We are dribbling down the floor and the ball goes off our knee out of bounds,” Brady said. “That’s bizarre. It’s strange to me and I just don’t get it.”
Brady substituted early and often. After the first time out, he sent in four substitutes. Over the next four minutes, the reserves hit only one shot and committed four turnovers.
“Some guys are going to go to the bench that I have counted on,” Brady said. “If they don’t do it they’ll sit down and won’t play and we we’ll see how they respond.”
Shawnson Johnson gave the Tigers a spark off of the bench by knocking down nine points in his first six minutes. Johnson, who missed LSU’s first exhibition game after violating team policy, finished with thirteen. Darrel Mitchell, one of four Tigers in double figures, answered a 4-0 run by the Group, with four straight of his own giving LSU a 41-32 halftime lead.
Two dunks by Brad Bridgewater to open the second half put the Tigers ahead 45-32. But a familiar face kept the Group close. Former Tiger player Louis Earl hit a jump shot to tie the game at 51 with 10:35 to play. Earl led all scorers with 17 points.
The Tigers also struggled from three-point land, sinking 5-21 from beyond the arc. Collis Temple III, who led LSU with 15 points and eight rebounds hit consecutive three-pointers to extend the lead to 68-54 with six minutes to go.
Ronald Dupree added 14 points and seven rebounds and said the Tigers still are coming together.
“We have got a long way to go,” Dupree said. “We have to continue to work and as time goes along we will get better and better and hopefully we will peak at the right time.”
The Tigers were coming off an opening loss to the Global Sports All Stars on Nov. 7, a game in which Brady was not happy with his team’s defensive play. Even though the Tigers out rebounded the Group 41-37, Brady said his team must continue to improve.
“We have got to get better defensively especially around the goal,” Brady said. “We were better tonight than we were the other night, but we are still not good enough to beat quality teams.”
LSU opens the regular season Friday night at 8 p.m. when it plays host to Nicholls State in the first game of the Hispanic College Club Classic.