re: LSU basketball team needs to get more physical!

quote:

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Mickey took care of that crap on the last meaningful possession for Ole Miss. Mickey and Martin were outstanding all night.

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Mickey allowed "that crap" on the 2-3 possessions before. Mickey gets a lot of pub for the blocked shots (as he should), but if you watch the game you'll see that he and Martin are really bad defenders. They get beat off the dribble constantly, and I think in some cases allow themselves to do so so that they can try to block the shot from behind. Gray can play good defense, but there are far too many times he plays "behind" the ballhandler in an effort to try to get a steal on the reach-around. LSU seems to place a higher emphasis on creating blocks and steals rather than staying in front of their man and forcing contested shots. This isn't a new problem for LSU, although overall it seems like the defense has improved to some extent this year.

Really TQ and (most of the time) Hornsby are LSU's best on ball defenders. While Hornsby's offense was outstanding last night, his defense on Moody was even better and THE KEY to winning that game.

There is no big secret to winning on the road. The visiting team MUST defend. LSU hit big shots last night, but that was one of LSU's better defensive efforts. That's why the won