After a porous defensive effort in a loss in College Station 14 days ago, communication was key for the LSU basketball team Wednesday as it switched to exclusively man-to-man defense.
It wasn’t there at the start. Poor rotations and communication allowed four quick Texas A&M buckets and the Tigers quickly fell behind by eight.
“Coach got on to us about communicating,” said LSU junior guard Anthony Hickey.
His words translated to the court as the Tiger defense held the Aggies scoreless for a 10 minute stretch midway through the first half and rode freshman forward Jarell Martin’s hot hand in the second half to cruise to a 68-49 win in the PMAC.
Looking lethargic at the start, the Tigers (17-10, 8-7 Southeastern Conference) fell behind by as many as eight in the first seven minutes behind a hot shooting start from the Aggies.
But when the Tiger defense shored up after Jones’ instruction, the Aggie offense went cold with LSU using lockdown man-to-man defense to rip off a 21-0 run, erasing an eight-point deficit and claiming an 11-point lead.
“We didn’t do a great job of talking,” Jones said. “I thought we were playing hard, but we weren’t talking. As the game progressed … we continued to compete real well and got into the flow of the game.”
Martin — appearing more patient and willing to wait for his shot — poured in 12 of his game-high 20 points in the second half.
He seemingly scored at will coming out of the halftime locker room, scoring seven straight points six minutes into the second half, creating separation from a determined Aggie squad.
“I was letting the game come to me,” Martin said. “My team is really unselfish and they were getting the ball to me when I was open. I was very confident in myself and I knocked down shots and got to the basket.”
The Aggies cut the lead to three with 17:37 to go in the game, but it was Martin’s run that stretched the lead to 12 and kept the Aggies at bay for the remainder of the evening.
Martin joined junior forward Johnny O’Bryant III and senior guard Andre Stringer as the three Tigers in double figures — O’Bryant posting 15 and Stringer adding 11.
As No. 1 Florida looms on the horizon and after perhaps LSU’s most backbreaking loss of the season at Kentucky, Jones said he was pleased with how his crew responded.
“After [Kentucky] they were able to put it behind them and look forward to the next challenge,” Jones said. “I think they were able to do that tonight. Really impressed with our team.”