Will Wade's First Game Thoughts

First off going to the game and being a lifelong LSU supporter I truly hate losing to Tulane in any sport but last night I thought was successful to some degree.

For the first time I saw defensive intensity in 3 years, Wade was constantly telling his guys to pick up earlier on the defensive end and guard 4-5 feet outside of the 3pt line. Even though we out-rebounded the Wave it hurt having basically only one post player in the game at any point.

Positives
Reath has gotten better than last year and showed nice touch around the basket and the offense when it went through him actually had motion and off the ball action. Previously in CJJ it was dump it in stand and watch. He also attacks the rebounds much like he did last year, but one thing I really liked was how fast they try and get the outlet passes up the lanes and into their offense.

As already mentioned the defensive intensity was much improved, meaning not only was there a pulse on defense but they actually did a good job on fundamental rotations but there were times and you could tell with guys playing out of position like Sims and Rachal.

Young guys got some minutes and our Tigers never quit, which if you have been watching the last couple of years they have in some games. LSU went 4-24 from 3pt range and still were in the game.

Biggest positive though by far of the night was rebounding, we won the battle of the boards 38-28 and held Tulane to only 3 offensive rebounds. With only one post player playing at one time, the guys did a great job boxing out. Both Reath and Sims had double doubles.

Negatives
It seems like Combs will be able to go for the game against Alcorn and Epps' injury does not sound too serious. But Kiir while very athletic and long is not strong enough yet and very prone to fouls. He should be a very nice piece in 2 years as a junior because he plays with high energy and is a terror already on the offensive glass just is not ready just yet. It was only Tulane but defensively they were able to get to the middle way too often mostly due to a lack of strength.

Shooting - Could have just been an off night but certain guys looked really bad shooting the ball, Sims did not look good at all when he shot even though he made a 3, and Sampson still shot way too early in the shot clock at times and put up some contested shots you could see Wade trying to teach.

Playmaking - Mays was probably our best playmaker and no offense to Skylar that is not the best thing. (Shoutout to him for a 4.12 in Pre-Med!) He made nice moves on the break but I honestly expected more out of Onwuasor, he was out of shape and at the 13:00 minute mark in the first half was gassed, now it could be that Wade just wants so much on the defensive end as he played very hard but he is build like a fullback. The transfers/new guys really struggled shooting need Onwuasor, Edwards, and Waters to add more on the offensive end if we are going to surprise some people.

Reid and Days will immediately help this team next year. All in all refreshing changes this rebuild will take time. Guys like Edwards, Onwuasor, and Combs while all good players are band-aids for this year. We are not a very athletic team, and there is not any one thing you can point to we do really well but defensively we are improving.

Also think we should play Tulane every single year, not a bad environment and it was fun for everyone. It should be alternating every year at campus sites only no SKC.

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never put any stock in exhibitions plus I'm sure it was Tulane's Super Bowl down there on campus.


If it was not for Halloween think there would have been a capacity crowd. Fogelman is very small but it is not a bad arena. With the recent renovations (Now Devlin Fieldhouse) the lobby areas, bathrooms and above seating walkways are some of the nicest on campus ammenities I have seen in a long time. It cannot seat more than 4,000 but it was probably 2600-2900 strong, good atmosphere and there were actually a lot of NOLA sports figures in attendance whether it be a couple Saints players, John Brady, or former Tulane football and basketball players.

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No reason not to play home and home with Tulane in hoops, could be a nice little rivalry to generate some fan interest since the non conf schedule is usually pretty watered down to begin with and LSU has struggled putting fans in the seats during Nov and Dec.


Agree 100%, also one thing to note, and I did not know this until I looked up in the AAC banners, but Wichita State is now a full member of the AAC, which is good for the conference and Tulane as a whole. There really is not a bad seat in Fogelman because it is so small so right there that is 5 pretty good homes games in Memphis, Houston, UConn, Cincy, and now Wichita State. If LSU and Tulane opened play every year your right it could generate much needed supoort, there was a large contingency of LSU people there, and there RPI should be improved.