LSU women’s basketball coach Nikki Caldwell has preached two concepts since the regular season schedule came to a close: reducing turnovers and preventing opponents’ offensive rebounds.
The Lady Tigers entered Southeastern Conference play on Jan. 2 against Tennessee with two losses. When they were bounced from the conference tournament on March 7 following a loss to that same Lady Volunteers team, their record displayed 12 defeats.
In those 12 losses, LSU has given up a 32-point swing — opponents have scored 14 points off offensive rebounds and another 18 off Lady Tigers’ turnovers.
Opponents have scored 215 points off of LSU turnovers in the Lady Tigers’ losses this season, compared to only 178 scored by LSU. The Lady Tigers have scored only 136 second-chance points as opposed to their opponents’ 172.
Two losses highlighted these issues for LSU in the final weeks of the regular season.
The first was on Feb. 23, when LSU turned the ball over 19 times en route to a 57-53 loss to Arkansas in the PMAC. The other took place in the second round of the SEC tournament against Tennessee, where the Lady Volunteers had 21 offensive rebounds compared to LSU’s 12, outscoring the Lady Tigers 17-6 on second-chance points in a 77-65 LSU loss.
“You look at what we’ve failed to accomplish, and we’ve failed to accomplish getting that win because of turnovers and offensive rebounds,” said senior guard Jeanne Kenney. “It’s always going to go back to those two things, and we’ve really tried to work on those.”
To help combat the problem, LSU has developed a number of practice strategies to help cut down on the mental mistakes for when the team takes the court in the NCAA tournament Sunday against Georgia Tech.
LSU senior forward Shanece McKinney said the squad has been putting in extra work with the scout team, which consists of male players who help give the Lady Tigers a competitive feel on the practice court.
McKinney said Caldwell broke down the statistics for the Lady Tigers, and she took some of the blame for the team’s lack of offensive rebounds. The 6-foot-4, Mobile, Ala., native usually towers over her competition, and she is second on the team in total offensive rebounds with 72.
“I’m one of the biggest people on the court, so I feel like it’s definitely my responsibility to clear those boards and give the guards the chance to run and not have to worry about coming in and picking up the slack from where the post-players are rebounding,” McKinney said.
With plenty of excitement buzzing around the PMAC in advance of the Lady Tigers’ third consecutive tournament appearance, Caldwell will have to keep her team focused on the fundamentals as Sunday draws closer.
She said the formula for cutting down the 32-point swing is simple.
“We talk about finishing our defense. We’re very good about guarding the play-action, and they know what they’re doing, but we have to finish out our defense,” Caldwell said. “If we can take that aggressive play in guarding the initial and having that for the entire shot clock until we secure the basketball, then we can cut [the 32-point swing] in half.”
“You look at what we’ve failed to accomplish, and we’ve failed to accomplish getting that win because of turnovers and offensive rebounds. It’s always going to go back to those two things, and we’ve really tried to work on those.”