Tag Archives: Trent Johnson
Don’t Count Us Out Yet
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So we made it past Butler and are now rewarded with playing North Carolina in North Carolina, but don’t count us out quite yet. (even though I did in the first round versus Butler!) We played NCAA basketball royalty killer back in 2006 and could very well do it again this year.
There was no way our Tigers were going to beat the all mighty Duke Blue Devils to reach the Elite 8 and eventually the Final Four. But we did, with play that is very similar to how this team has played all year: hustle, heart and defense. Garrett Temple completely shut down national sweetie pie Gay Gay Redick (remember this pic?) and Coach K (is it me, or does his mouth look like an anus? sorry, had to ask, I’ll get on to Lou Holtz’s mouth in the football season) and there was just enough scoring from our offense to seal the win. Read the 2006 game recap here. Keep reading, I’m not done with you yet.
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Marcus Thornton x Two More Great Games = SEC Player of the Week
After coming up huge once again for the Tigers in two wins last week over Florida and the first at Kentucky in 20 years, Marcus Thornton was awarded SEC Player of the Week for the 2nd time this year. He scored 32 points, had 5 assists and 5 rebounds against the Gators at home on ESPN and had 23 points (15 in 2nd half), 9 rebounds, and 4 assists Saturday in Lexington on CBS. His averages for the week: 27.5 ponts, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists.
One of the assists led to the game winning shot from Tasmin Mitchell against Kentucky. Thornton was the decoy and dribbled off Tasmin’s pick, attracting two defenders, leaving Mitchell open for the three pointer.
Thornton is doing it all for LSU this year including shooting 40% three pointers and 75% free throws, while only sitting for less than 9 minutes a game. There is no doubt that he leaves it all out on the floor each night and now the nation is starting to learn who he is after the two performances that earned him this honor were on national TV. As posted before, Thornton is the same height and build as a few NBA players you might know….. Dwayne Wade, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd…. Anyway, since Thornton will definitely be leaving LSU this year as he is a senior, the NBA is obvious as the next level for him. I think he could make a good fit there. He is very athletic and aggressive for his size. But I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, he still has a few more games to play as a Tiger.
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LSU Basketball Moves Further Up in National Polls, #11 & #12
The Tigers piled on two more wins last week and continued their hot streak in the SEC. Now, LSU has won 13 straight conference games, 10 straight overall and for the 3rd week in a row, rise in the national ranks. The Tigers find themselves at #11 in today’s ESPN/USA Today poll and #12 in the AP poll. See the new polls here.
Some quick poll-analysis: the only teams with higher winning percentages than LSU are UCONN, UNC, Memphis, Pitt, and Oklahoma. The top 10 in both polls are almost identical, however, the 11-20 ranks of both polls involve the same teams, but the order is comparably different. For example, Villanova is #11 in the AP and #16 in the ESPN/USA Today. (more after the jump…)
All that doesn’t really matter, just something I noticed.
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LSU Basketball Continues to Overachieve
LSU comes from behind to beat Kentucky in Lexington and now owns the 2008-2009 SEC title outright!! These guys continue to find ways to win and have done so 10 games in a row overall and for 13 consecutive SEC games.
The visiting team locker room doors were closed Saturday night in Rupp Arena, but ESPN’s Pat Forde could hear chants of “LSU, LSU, LSU” coming from inside. It was just a part of the story of LSU’s season of which he found compelling enough to write one of his own……. click here (more after the jump)
Now that the Tigers are 25-4 and have won 4 straight while being ranked in the top 25 nationally, there is no doubt they will move up in those polls and possibly receive a 3-5 seed in the NCAA tournament. However, I believe that with still 2 games left; one at home against Vandy and another at Auburn, Trent Johnson will coach each of them the way he has coached the last 13 SEC games the Tigers have played and won….. not thinking about the postseason.
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These Tigers are Exceeding Expectations
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The LSU Tiger Basketball team is 19-4. That’s right, 19-4! After this afternoon’s win over Alabama, they have now won seven straight SEC games and are not only winning them, they are blowing teams out with an average score over those seven games 80-63. This team continues to find ways to take control of games and pour it on when they need to. They are packing the PMAC once again and to the surprise of a lot of fans, are alone at the top of the SEC standings halfway through conference play (7-1).
We were all skeptical at the beginning of the season of what kind of team we had this year. Some said, “wait ’til we play a team with a pulse”. Others wrote, even to turn last year’s 13-18 record around to 18-13 this year, would be a huge accomplishment (paraphrasing). I thought the same too. How could basically the same group from last year turn it around and play so much better in one season? …….especially after the early departure of 6-10 freshman and over-achiever, Anthony Randolph, to try out the NBA. Well, they have done it and it’s pretty exciting to watch.
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LSU Tigers Take Care of Business on the Court at UGA
The LSU Tigers took their 17-4 record into Athens, GA tonight to take on the Georgia Bulldogs (9-12). LSU was looking to extend it’s 5-game SEC winning streak after the recent road win over Tennessee, who after losing to the Tigers, dominated the Florida Gators in their next game. LSU also was also coming off a hard fought home win over Arkansas last Saturday. LSU played another good game tonight, however, the scoring for the Tigers was a bit lopsided. Marcus Thornton dropped in 30 on 11-18 shooting, 3-5 from the arc, and 5-5 on freebies. Tasmin Mitchell added 27 on 12-16 shooting. The next highest scorer for the Tigers was Chris Johnson at 7.
The Tigers won the assists battle, 17-8 as well as the rebounding, 36-32. The Tigers shot 50% from the field overall and only had 10 turnovers. They played a Georgia team that is struggling this year and they did exactly what they were supposed to do tonight. Coach Johnson had this team focused once again on the road, winning the game 80-62. More after the jump.
LSU took over in the 2nd half after only leading by 4 at the break, 35-31. The Tigers were up as much as 23 with 7 minutes left. The starters eventually took their seats and LSU cruised to the win. Storm Warren made the last layup that gave the Tigers the magic number of 80 points.
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LSU Picks Up HUGE Road Win
First off, I want to apologize for my lack of writing an article after the Xavier game. I was out of town in Houston listening to the legendary Dr. James Andrews lecture on the shoulder. Secondly, I don’t remember the last time I’ve cursed so much watching a sporting event. This game had everything you could ask for. LSU took a 2-0 lead to start the game and pretty much dominated the first half. Through the first 9 minutes of the game, LSU was 10-14 from the field and 3-6 from three point land. The refs in this game were definitely bi-polar. The first half you could draw blood and no foul would be called only to blink and a foul would be called on you in the second half. LSU took a 43-38 lead at the half.
The second half was 10 times more exciting. LSU had a 14 point lead at one point only to go ice cold for about a 6 minute period. The only way LSU stayed in the game during that span was thanks to a Bruce Pearl technical foul. The last 3 minutes of the game was a possession difference. With less than one minute left LSU hit the free throws when it counted to go on for the 79-73 victory. Marcus Thorton continued his red hot scoring with 29 points. Bo Spencer played exceptional scoring 15, and Chris Johnson was probably the player of the game with a double double 14/14, but had several key blocks when it counted. LSU shot a respectable 47.5% from the field and 80% from the stripe (16-20). The memorable moment of the game that really stood out to me was when LSU was down by 2 with less than 5 minutes left and the camera showed Trent Johnson on the bench, who was cooler than the other side of the pillow. I was on my treadmill running at a mock 3 pace cursing up a storm, and I read Trent Johnson’s lips and he said “calm down” to his players. Right then and there I knew had John Brady been coaching this team, we would have lost by 10, but Coach Johnson has the cool demeanor to not only calm his players down, but also the crazy fans. Terry Martin had 4 points for the only bench points. Freshmen Delwan Graham and Storm Warren played some good minutes and I’m glad they did. They got a chance to experience what it’s like to be in the fire at a quality SEC opponents house. This was a huge win for LSU that might come back and help them come “dancing” time. LSU (16-4, 4-1) returns home to play Arkansas at 4, and we need the PMAC to be rock’in againn!!!!!
You Win Some, You Lose Some.
This past weekend was an up and down one for LSU sports. On the down side, the men lost to Xavier 80-70. The Tigers went about 9 minutes in the 2nd half without scoring and allowed a first half lead to slip away. The lead at the end of the first half was only one point, 37-36, but anyway……. Speaking of the first half, it was a great one to watch. There were a bunch of ties and lead changes. It was just back and forth for 20 minutes. Then the Tigers went colder than our fellow LSUtopian is in Oklahoma City, OK today (wind chill at noon was 8 there).
LSU played well enough on defense to win it, they just simply couldn’t score when they needed to. On the up-side, Marcus Thornton blessed us with yet another 30 point game gaining him SEC player of the week, averaging 30.5 points in the last two games. In those games against Miss. St. and Xavier he shot almost as well from the 3-point line (53%) as his did anywhere else (55%). Congrats to him. More after the jump.
The Tigers’ (15-4, 3-1) next game will be Wednesday night in Knoxville against the Tennessee Volunteers (12-6, 3-1). The Volunteers are a pretty average team and they haven’t beaten anyone as of late by any significant amount, except for beating Vandy in Nashville by 13. They also lost a close one by 2, to #24 Memphis over the weekend. If the Tigers play their game, they should leave with the win.
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