After losing 5 straight on the road, the Tigers returned to a mere Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 7,000 plus on Wednesday to be greeted with doubt and criticism in their 91-82 win against Mississippi State.
“We were pretty fired up from the setback we had last game,” said junior Anthony Hickey.
“You got to stay focused you can’t let anything bring you down,” said freshman Jarrell Martin. “You just to have to stay motivated and go out everyday and play hard.”
Another game for Johnny O’Bryant III marred by foul troubled forced other players to step up. And in a much-needed win for LSU’s psyche, freshman Jarrell Martin played that role.
Jarrell Martin:
“When Johnny gets in foul trouble my role is to go out and play hard. Get every loose ball, every rebound. Just go out there and defend the post and try to stop them from scoring.”
For an LSU squad that’s 5-1 in the SEC at home, it’s a mirror image on the road.
In LSU’s 1-5 SEC road record this season, sustaining energy and stopping opponent’s runs has been a recurring issue.
In Wednesday’s contest, the Tigers jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but allowed the Bulldogs to cut the lead down to just 7 early in the second half.
“I thought we got a little bit lacksed after getting the lead, knowing they were going to make a run,” said LSU coach Johnny Jones
“They were just able to make plays,” Hickey said. “We didn’t lock down defensively. We got to get better at playing defense for 40 minutes.”
So whatever results from the Tigers trip to Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday will be as much a statement to the critics as to themselves.
“Just come in and worry about one game at a time,” Hickey said. “We don’t need to look to far ahead. We just need to take it one step at a time and we’ll be fine.”
“We’re a team that’s very capable but it’s about sustaining,” Jones said. “But our goals and everything is still out there in front of us and we’ve got the opportunity to control our own destiny if we can continue to stay focused. Play extremely hard and those things can happen for you.”