Mid-week, non-conference games usually are played against mid-major, mediocre ballclubs.
The LSU basketball team will face the likes of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Prairie View A&M and the University of New Orleans on the pre-Southeastern Conference slate.
However, with the 79-77 loss to Texas A&M Saturday in the Space City Classic and the continued struggles of the veterans expected to lead the team, tonight’s game against Delaware State presents the Tigers with another chance for the team to get on track.
“Every game is important,” said senior point guard Torris Bright, who missed the front end of a one-and-one that could have sent the Texas A&M game into overtime. “We weren’t supposed to lose the last game to A&M, and now we are just trying to find out what our identity is. We just have to take it one game at a time and play as a team and come together and get this thing rolling.”
As of yet, the Tigers’ identity seems to be a team led by younger players and maligned by poor free-throw shooting.
Senior forward Ronald Dupree, a 2001 second-team All-SEC performer, is shooting 37 percent in the first three contests. He also leads the team in turnovers with nine and is shooting 37 percent from the free-throw line.
Bright is shooting 44 percent from the field, and is shooting only 50 percent from the charity stripe.
As a team, the Tigers are dead last in the SEC in free-throw shooting, shooting a combined 29-of-56 for a mediocre 51 percent.
“I think the confidence level of the team is pretty mediocre right now,” Bright said. “We had high hopes at the beginning of the season. Now we know that we can be beaten by anybody, and we haven’t been playing well lately. We have to get in sync and get this thing together. Every player just has to settle down and focus and play to the best of their ability and not worry about anything else.”
Delaware State may be a good antidote for the Tigers sickness.
The Hornets have started the season 0-3, with losses to Hartford, West Virginia and Dayton.
Their tallest player is 6-foot-7 Sergey Stephanenkov, and they are led by their center, Aaron Mathews, who is 6-foot-6, and is averaging 10.7 points-per-game and 10.3 rebounds-per-game.
In the game versus the Aggies during the weekend, LSU lost a back-and-forth affair, despite a valiant comeback effort in the last minute of the game.
Down 78-71 with 43 seconds remaining, a pair of three pointers by LSU surrounding a Texas A&M free throw pulled the Tigers to within two points, 79-77.
Torris Bright had the opportunity to tie it, but clanked a free throw after sitting on the bench most of the second half.
“We’re not a very good team right now,” Brady said. “We couldn’t make timely free throws, and we couldn’t execute offensively. I’m looking for more consistent production from some of the players I expect it from.”