LSU men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones challenged his team to play with an edge against Alabama.
Junior guard Keith Hornsby felt the heightened intensity before the Tigers tipped off.
“Ever since we started warming up, you could just feel the energy between us,” Hornsby said. “We knew what we had to do. We didn’t have to say anything.”
After squandering two games against teams with losing records, a rejuvenated LSU let its intense play do the talking against Alabama.
The Tigers (17-6, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) rebounded from their first losing streak of the season and returned to their inside-out identity with a 71-60 victory against the Crimson Tide on Saturday at the PMAC.
After settling for 40 combined 3-pointers in the last two games, LSU relentlessly attacked the rim against Alabama, outscoring the visitors 28-20 in the paint.
The Tigers’ constant drives to the basket resulted in 38 trips to the free throw line, 19 more than the perimeter-shooting Tide. Conversely, Alabama hoisted 26 3-pointers, 16 more than LSU.
“I thought the big difference in the game was that we shot less 3-pointers — we only shot 10,” Jones said. “We got to the line 38 times. I thought we were much better and aggressive of trying to get the ball to the rim.”
Leading the charge inside for LSU were sophomore forwards Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin, who totaled 40 points on a combined 13-of-21 shooting from the field. It was the first time both Mickey and Martin shot better than 50 percent from the floor since Jan. 3 against Savannah State.
In particular, it was a bounce-back game for Martin after some recent struggles. The Baton Rouge native hadn’t made half his field goals in the six games prior to Saturday’s contest, and he said Jones challenged him to be more assertive on the offensive end.
“Coach [Jones] has been on me the last couple of days about attacking the basket,” Martin said. “He was saying in [non-conference] I was averaging at least eight free throws per game. In conference play, I wasn’t averaging that many free throws, so he was saying I wasn’t attacking the basket enough. I wanted to come out this game attacking the basket.”
All six of Martin’s field goals came in the paint, including a crowd-lifting, two-handed slam that kickstarted an 8-0 LSU burst after Alabama cut the deficit to two with 8:48 left in the game. All four of LSU’s field goals during the game-sealing run came in the paint.
Almost as noticeable as the Tigers’ new-found aggression was the change Jones made to the starting lineup. Sophomore Tim Quarterman and freshman Jalyn Patterson both started in the backcourt alongside Hornsby in place of junior guard Josh Gray and sophomore center Darcy Malone.
The result: All five of LSU’s starters made a field goal in the game’s first seven minutes, and four of the five reached double digits for the first time since Jan. 14.
“[Jones] switched some things up and changed the lineup a little bit, and it worked out for the better,” Mickey said. “Guys accepted it and moved on, and guys came in and played hard.”
Patterson was the lone starter to not reach double figures, but he filled up the stat sheet with six points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in a career-high 35 minutes of action.
“[Jones] just told me to go out there and lock up and do what I’ve been doing all year,” Patterson said. “He basically told me to go out there and play, and that’s what I tried to do.”
Despite shooting just 32.8 percent from the field, stingy Alabama never let LSU pull away completely. Tide senior guard Levi Randolph poured in 17 points, and freshman swingman Riley Norris came off the bench to add 12 while hitting three 3-pointers.
But unlike the previous two games, in which the Tigers stumbled down the stretch, LSU was able to finally put the game away with timely free throw shooting. LSU missed 14 of its first 27 free throws but made 10-of-11 in the game’s final three minutes to seal the win.
After securing a much-needed victory, LSU can now turn its full attention to No. 1 Kentucky (23-0, 10-0 SEC), which remained undefeated with a 68-61 victory at Florida on Saturday. The Tigers and Wildcats tip off at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the PMAC, and the game will be televised on ESPN.
Based on Saturday’s performance, Kentucky will likely see an attacking and aggressive LSU squad, not the 3-point-shooting one.
“We needed this type of game,” Mickey said. “It was a bounce back. We played together as a team. We didn’t really settle too much, we got to the goal a lot, shot a lot of free throws. We just played great. I’m proud of my team. We bounced back from an extremely tough loss, and it’s something we needed.”
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.