Andre Stringer’s 19-point performance Wednesday night was nothing new for the freshman point guard.
Stringer put his entire Forest Park High School team on his shoulders when he scored 61 points in an overtime victory during his junior season.
The Jackson, Miss., native may not have to bear the entire load Saturday when LSU (10-12, 2-5) hosts Southeastern Conference divisional foe Mississippi State (11-10, 3-4), but the Tigers would welcome any kind of point contribution.
LSU is reeling from five consecutive SEC losses, four of which were by at least 22 points.
“Andre’s not going to carry this team single handedly,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “What we asked him the other day was to knock down open shots.”
Stringer recorded seven straight double-digit nights to open up the season, but since January, the point guard had only three games with more than 10 points going into Wednesday’s contest.
“As of late, they haven’t been going down for me, but they went down for me last night,” Stringer said. “I got in a bit of a rhythm, and my teammates found me when I was open.”
Stringer showed off his range early in the season, hitting treys from anywhere behind the 3-point line.
“I can go 3 feet from beyond the arc,” Stringer said. “I’d say no further than that. If I feel like I can make it, I’m going to shoot it.”
Johnson said Stringer will have a tougher time squaring up against the Bulldogs’ point guard, junior Dee Bost, on Saturday.
Bost averages a team-leading 18.3 points a game for the Bulldogs.
“Mississippi State is a veteran, experienced team so it’ll be a defensive challenge,” Johnson said. “When he’s open, he needs to shoot it with confidence and go from there.”
Stringer, who said he ultimately picked LSU because of the chance for more playing time, became friends with Bost when Mississippi State was recruiting him out of high school.
Junior forward Storm Warren will once again be questionable Saturday with a lingering Achilles tendon injury.
Warren was limited to six minutes of playing time Wednesday and missed the two previous SEC games.
“I wanted to go and play on it, but I wasn’t even healthy enough,” Warren said. “He doesn’t want me to push myself too much and mess up and probably cause a serious injury and jeopardize my future.”
Follow Michael Lambert on Twitter @TDR_Lambert.