Cock-a-doodle-doo. Maybe LSU received its wake up call Wednesday night against the Gamecocks of South Carolina.
In front of a sparse 4,548 fans at the PMAC, the Tigers (13-7, 2-6 Southeastern Conference) ended their five-game SEC losing streak with a 71-58 win over the Gamecocks (7-11, 1-7).
LSU coach John Brady said he was proud of the way the Tigers played after going through a dry spell over the last five games.
“To be quite honest, I thought our team played extremely hard,” he said. “I was proud of our guys for finding a way to win it. Now we just have to think about doing what we’re doing, think about defending and rebounding, making that an emphasis and try to go get us one on the road Saturday at Auburn.”
Brady said LSU’s ability to rebound the ball, especially on the offensive glass, was the difference in the game.
LSU forwards Ronald Dupree and Jaime Lloreda each grabbed double-doubles to lead the Tigers. Dupree notched 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Lloreda scored 14 points and grabbed 15 boards.
Overall, the Tigers dominated the Gamecocks on the glass and at the free-throw line, outrebounding South Carolina, 42-26, and shooting 20-of-28 from the charity stripe.
Lloreda, who came into Wednesday’s game hitting 41 percent at the free-throw line in SEC contests, went 6-of-8, including a streak of six straight free throws, and scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half coming off the bench.
“Jaime went back and rebounded the ball like he needs to, and he scored a couple of big baskets down the stretch,” Brady said. “He went through a three-game stretch where he didn’t play very well. He didn’t score, he couldn’t finish around the goal and he didn’t rebound. I think tonight he went back to what he does well, which is rebound the ball, particularly offensively, and that got him scoring a little bit.”
Brady called Lloreda’s recent free-throw struggles a “lagniappe” and Collis Temple III compared it to putting in golf. Like putting, shooting free throws require a routine in order to get better at it, which Lloreda is working on, Temple said.
“It’s mental, but you have to go through the same thing every time,” Temple said. “You have to have a routine. In putting, you have to do the same thing every time. And that’s what we’re trying to get into Jaime.”
Temple and Darrel Mitchell chipped in with 17 and 12 points respectively. Temple carried the team with 13 points in the first half and hit 6-of-12 shots on the night, while Mitchell came off the bench for eight first half points.
Guard Xavier Whipple, who made his first start of the season at point guard, got the Tigers off to a fast start at the opening tip, scoring the game’s first four points as LSU never trailed in the contest.
“We got some balanced scoring tonight,” Brady said. “We got four guys in double figures, which is what we need to do consistently, spread out the scoring a little bit and that makes our team better.”
The Tigers opened up a 15-point lead with 2:44 left in the first half and led 36-25 at the break.
South Carolina began to chip into the lead in the second half and pulled to within four points at 52-48 with 8:47 left in the game.
LSU answered right back with an alley-oop to Dupree from Torris Bright, a basket by Mitchell and a fastbreak dunk by Dupree to stretch the lead back to 10 and shut the door on the Gamecocks.
Defensively, the Tigers held the Gamecocks to 40 percent shooting on the night.
“I think it came down to a lot of guys making an individual effort to stop their guy from scoring, and I think we did that tonight,” Dupree said.
Temple added, “We had a team meeting two nights ago, and we said what we needed to do was take it personal. Every person needs to take it personal on defense. That’s what we did. We played better defensively.”