They had it in 2000-01 with Lamont Roland and Stromile Swift. They had it in 2001-02 with Jermaine Williams and Ronald Dupree. They have had it ever since John Brady took over the LSU men’s basketball program in 1997.
What have they had? Defense and rebounding.
Ever since Brady succeeded Dale Brown in 1997, the Tigers have thrived on defensive effort and hustle on the boards. The Brady-led Tigers had to do it this way — NCAA sanctions depleted the offense by cutting into the amount of scholarship athletes on the team.
“It’s our lifeline,” said Dupree, the team’s second-leading rebounder this season. “The type of team we have, we have to play defense, we have to rebound the ball in order to compete game in and game out, especially against real quality teams.”
Brady has implemented the theme and this year the team is running with it. The Tigers rank in the top five in four major defensive categories in the SEC. Brady’s team also is off to an 11-2 start this season and has been ranked as high as 21st in the nation (AP).
“As long as we’re playing defense and keeping the score at the end of games between 60 and 70 points, we’re going to be fine,” Dupree said.
The 2002-03 Tigers are holding opponents to 60.5 points per game, third best in the SEC. Opponents are only shooting 40.1 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from three-point land against the Tigers.
Dupree is the main offensive threat for the Tiger basketball team, but he gives credit to coach Brady for improving his defensive play.
“One thing I’ve learned coming to LSU is how to play defense and I give that full credit to John Brady,” said Dupree.
The defense has 114 steals overall. Senior Torris Bright leads the team with 26. His 26 steals move him into third place overall in LSU history with 213.
“The defense is getting better and better,” said Bright. “It has to get better as you go along in the SEC, and it will game by game.”
Bright credits Brady for the team’s defensive play as well.
“He [Brady] stresses defense a lot,” said Bright. “Offense doesn’t really matter. We know everybody was an All-American in high school and everybody can score with the ball, but mostly [people cannot] play defense, so he stresses defense a lot, and it shows in our play.”
The rebounding this season has been just as impressive as the defense. Through 13 games, the Tigers are third best in the SEC with an average of 36.3 rebounds per game and are out-rebounding opponents by a margin of 5.2 per contest.
“We play pretty good defense,” said Collis Temple III, who has 47 rebounds this season. “But also a part of defense is rebounding the ball to finish the possession.”
First year starter Jaime Lloreda leads the team with 105 rebounds, which is second in the SEC. Dupree is second on the team and fourth in the SEC with 101 rebounds.
“I rebound the ball and that is one of the best things I do in this sport,” said Lloreda.
The defensive play of some of the younger players on the team also has been impressive. Sophomore Antonio Hudson is excelling on defense this year with 19 steals for the Tigers.
“It has been more of a team defense,” said Hudson. “We’ve got new players that can come off the bench so we can try to go our hardest on defense and give it our all. Like he [Brady] always says, we can’t control shots going in but we can control the effort that we put forth on defense. Defense always beats the offense.”
True freshman Darrel Mitchell has the second most steals this season with 24. Mitchell has come off the bench to provide a real spark for the Tiger defense.
“Brady toughens us on defense and just lets the offense come to us,” said Mitchell.
The defense is the backbone of the Tiger team, and it will have to continue to be if the Tigers want to compete in the SEC.
“He [Brady] knows defense wins games, so that’s the key,” Lloreda added.