LSU entered the weekend of the Southeastern Conference Tournament relaxed.
Senior forward Ronald Dupree said the Tigers felt like they were in the NCAA Tournament, so the SEC Tournament served as a time for fun, relaxed play. The Tigers proved that by defeating Arkansas, 85-56, in the first round of the tournament Thursday at the Superdome in New Orleans.
But the challenges over the weekend were to be much more taxing than a game against the Razorbacks.
First on Friday loomed seventh-ranked Florida, who defeated LSU at the PMAC earlier in the season, using seven Brett Nelson 3-pointers to down the Tigers, 70-53.
All started well for the Tigers.
Behind the jump-shooting of Dupree and a gutsy effort by junior forward Jaime Lloreda, the Tigers defeated Florida for the first time since 1998, shooting 55.1 percent from the field and winning, 65-61.
“I am extremely proud of our team and what it was able to do,” said head coach John Brady.
Dupree was on fire in the first half, converting 9 of his 10 shots and scoring 19 points. He finished 11-for-15 from the field for 24 points with eight of his baskets coming on jump shots.
Lloreda scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting, pulled down 15 rebounds, blocked four shots and made three steals. He also sank a free throw with 13 seconds remaining that turned the margin from three points to four points and forced Florida to have two offensive possessions if any comeback was to commence.
Lloreda attributed his performance to the Tigers’ first game against Florida, when he scored three points in front of his parents and also received a technical foul for elbowing Nelson in the back of the head. Subsequently, he was suspended for the next game against Alabama.
“For me, that game was special,” Lloreda said. “The last time we played them was Jan. 28, and I played the worst game of my life in front of my mom and dad. So I came today with all my heart to play this game.”
Things looked bleak for the Tigers at the beginning of the game.
The Gators opened up an 11-2 lead on LSU, with the Tigers turning the ball over three times in the first 2:29 of the game
From that point, it seemed a different team had taken the court.
LSU outscored Florida 38-16 from the 15:38 mark in the first half and shot 64.3 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.
“I thought from that point [15:38 mark] on until the first half ended, we played about as good as we could play, both offensively and defensively,” Brady said. “I was just so proud of our team for the way they played that first 20 minutes or the last 15 minutes of the half.”
Brady said he knew the Gators would make a run at the Tigers in the second half, and they did.
“Like a well-coached team as Florida is, you know Billy [Donovan] does a tremendous job and his team is well-schooled, and they have been in those types of situations in games before,” Brady said. “The game was going to settle down.”
Florida opened the second half on an 11-2 run and sliced the margin to 42-38 with 17:06 remaining.
LSU answered the run, and stretched its lead back to 54-44 with 13:06 remaining.
From that point, the Gators outscored LSU 17-11, and pulled the margin to as thin as one point before some timely Tiger defensive stops and clutch free throws at the end of the game gave LSU the victory.
The victory meant LSU had to turn around and face a very physical Mississippi State team less than 24 hours later.
The challenge was too much to overcome.
Timmy Bowers connected on 6-of-9 3-point attempts and scored 26 points, and Derrick Zimmerman dished out 11 assists to lead the Bulldogs to a 76-62 victory over the Tigers in the semifinals of the SEC Tourney.
Brady gave all the credit to MSU.
“I hear a lot of coaches after they get beat,” Brady said. “They talk about what they didn’t do and how bad they shot or how poorly they played. But my response is Mississippi State is a very, very good team. They are extremely athletic, they have size, they do the right things to get their players in position to score, and I think today, they were maybe a half-step quicker than we were and more physical than we were.”
MSU shot 10-for-19 from the 3-point line, forced 18 Tiger turnovers and scored 18 points off those mishaps. The Bulldogs opened up a 14-point lead with 8:54 remaining in the first half.
“They came out with a great deal of intensity from the jump, kind of like the way Florida did yesterday,” said senior Collis Temple III. “We weren’t able to counter it the way we countered Florida’s intensity yesterday simply because they were a little more aggressive and a little more physical than Florida was, and they kept it on the entire 40 minutes.”
LSU did go on a 16-4 run, and the Tigers pulled it to 34-32 at the half. But it seemed like every time LSU tried to make a run, MSU countered with one of its own.
The Bulldogs opened the second half on a 9-2 run, and led 43-34.
Once again, LSU tightened the game, trailing 60-54 with 7:38 remaining, but MSU answered again, and pulled away for the 15-point margin.