In LSU’s Jan. 10 game against Alabama at the PMAC, the Tigers fell behind 12 points with 6:42 remaining in the game but put on a furious rally and won the game 70-66.
Things may not be so easy if the Tigers find themselves in the same predicament Saturday at 6 p.m. when they visit Alabama.
LSU coach John Brady hopes the Tigers learned their lesson from the previous game against the Crimson Tide.
“Games develop in different ways and things happen,” Brady said. “Hopefully we’ve developed an approach where we don’t have to come from behind in the last six-and-a-half minutes. On the road, it will be a little bit more difficult to do that.”
Both the Tigers (13-4) and Crimson Tide (11-6) hold 3-3 Southeastern Conference records and are tied for second place in the SEC West.
The last time the two teams met, the Tigers had the crowd in their favor and with five players in double figures, they willed themselves to a win.
Guard Darrel Mitchell scored 19 points, and Antonio Hudson had 13 points. Brandon Bass, Tack Minor and Jaime Lloreda each scored 12.
“We were down 10 and most people probably gave up,” Mitchell said. “We had faith in ourselves. We learned the lesson that the game is not over until the end. It’s real hard to play on the road in this league. We just have to go in there, execute and play tough defense and do the things we did [Wednesday against Georgia].”
Lloreda said the Tigers learned a valuable lesson from the first game.
“We just learned that we have to play harder at the start, run harder and make shots,” said Lloreda, who scored 18 points and grabbed 12 boards in LSU’s win over Georgia on Wednesday. “We know over there we won’t have our crowd, and their crowd will be pretty loud. It would be hard for us to come back because they will have all the momentum over there.”
Alabama is in the midst of a two-game skid. They lost to Florida 88-78 Tuesday night and also lost top scorer Earnest Shelton to a MCL injury. Shelton was averaging 15.5 points per game.
In Shelton’s absence against the Gators, forward Kennedy Winston picked up the offensive slack and poured in 25 points. Winston led the Tide in scoring in the previous game against the Tigers with 15 points.
“[Winston is] a tough guard for us,” Brady said. “He’s versatile. He can shoot it from the 3. He can drive it to the basket. In the game against Florida the other night, he hit three 3s in a row. They put him on the wing and he drives by them and puts it in. He’s a real versatile player and a real talented player.”
Brady said even without Shelton the Tide looked good on offense against Florida.
“They scored 78 points and did that pretty easily,” Brady said. “The Alabama team that I saw against Florida, they didn’t miss a whole lot from what I saw.”
Mitchell said the Tigers have to go to Coleman Coliseum and build off Wednesday’s 63-59 win over Georgia. Before that game LSU was in a three-game SEC losing streak.
“On the road, it’s tough,” Mitchell said. “We’re basically out there by ourselves. We have to stick together on the road.”