LSU will lace up its sneakers one more time in the exhibition season when it hosts the Houston Sports Group tonight in the PMAC at 7 p.m.
After falling to the Global Sports All-Stars Nov. 7, 78-69, LSU head coach John Brady expects his Tigers to put forth a much better effort in their final tuneup before the regular season starts Nov. 22 versus Nicholls State.
“I anticipate us playing better,” Brady said. “I am counting on the guys who did not play well who need to play well for us to have a successful season to play better.”
Those players include seniors Ronald Dupree, Brad Bridgewater, Torris Bright, Collis Temple III, and sophomore Antonio Hudson, who will be the starting five for the exhibition. Junior Jaime Lloreda, who started against Global Sports, will come off the bench.
This game will mark the much awaited debut of 6-foot-9 junior forward Shawnson Johnson, who was ineligible last year. He sat out the first game because of a violation of team rules.
“I am interested to see how he (Johnson) does in our game,” Brady said. “He is a guy that had not played in a year, and people need to understand that. He is not going to come out and just set the rebound record for the Assembly Center, but certainly as he gets to play and gets some experience and gets a feel for it he is going to help us.”
In its contest against the All-Stars, LSU was marred by inconsistent shooting offensively and a hot-shooting Global Sports team that put up an impressive 55.2 shooting percentage in the second half and also stayed even with the Tigers on the boards, with both teams pulling down 37 rebounds.
Brady was not happy with his team’s defensive performance.
“We need to rebound the ball a little bit better,” Brady said. “I think we need to just guard the ball. We need to guard on the ball better and rebound better. The first half last game, I thought our defense was pretty good. But in the second half we could not score and we let down a little bit defensively.”
Brady has been pleased with the week of practice following the loss to Global Sports. He is especially excited about his younger players.
“I thought particularly our new guys practiced well,” Brady said. “I think Collis has practiced well the last two or three days and tried hard, but I think our new guys practiced well. Tony Gibson and Darrel Mitchell and Shawnson Johnson had three or four really good days of practice. But still it goes back to the guys that have been here the longest that need to play a little bit better for us to have some sustained success this year.”
Not much is known about the Houston Sports Group, except that former Tiger Louis Earl is a member of the team mostly made up of Texans.
They faced Prairie View last night before making the trip to Baton Rouge.