Sometimes when expectations are high, a team may buy into the hype. That seemed to be the case with the LSU basketball team Thursday, as it fell to the Global Sports All-Stars, 78-69, in an exhibition game at the PMAC.
The All-Stars used a 9-0 run midway through the second half to pull away from the Tigers and hand LSU head coach John Brady his second exhibition game loss in eleven tries in his six years in Baton Rouge.
“I told the players to forget what people are saying about you,” Brady said, visibly angry. “Forget what you read in the paper. You read in the paper what I say about you because that is the way it is.”
LSU’s seniors struggled throughout the game, as Ronald Dupree, Brad Bridgewater, Torris Bright and Collis Temple III combined to make 15-of-42 shots.
“The guys that I was counting on to provide leadership for my team did nothing,” Brady said. “If we can’t rely on those guys I don’t know where it is going to come from.”
In the much-awaited debut of junior college transfer Jaime Lloreda, the 2002 National Junior College Player of the Year showed flashes of brilliance and moments of control problems as he went five-of-seven from the floor to score 14 points and grab 10 rebounds.
Sophomore guard Antonio Hudson also chipped in with seven points on three-of-five shooting.
The theme of the first half was sluggish play, as both teams shot below 45 percent and combined for 19 turnovers, and the All-Stars took a 33-32 lead into the locker room.
However, play was much more crisp in the second half, and with 9:29 remaining, the score was tied at 58.
But Global Sports came with a 9-0 run on some hot shooting and stellar defense to put the game out of reach.
In the second half, the All-Stars shot 55.2 percent, including a sizzling 71.4 percent behind the three-point line, and matched LSU in rebounds for the game, as both teams pulled down 37 boards.
“Any time a team of mine gives up 55 percent field goal shooting in the second half,” Brady said. “Seventy-one percent from the three-point line, luckily they are 8-for-15 from the free-throw line, and to rebound that team even, we are lucky we did not get beat worse.”
Brady, widely known as a defensive-minded coach, was disgusted with the defensive effort put forth by the Tigers.
“Our defensive stats in the second half and our rebound stat is not even close to what I want a team to show,” Brady said. “We’ll work out the offense. That will be OK. There was not anything positive on the defensive end of the floor that I saw.”
LSU will complete its exhibition season next Friday, Nov. 15, as the Tigers face the Houston Sports Group at 7 p.m. in the PMAC.