The 1986-87 season was the first time LSU was ever faced with the challenge of having to win four games in four days to win the SEC men’s basketball tournament.
Then-Tigers head coach Dale Brown, to prove to his team that fatigue is a state of mind, told his team and the media that he would stay awake 24 hours a day for the entire tournament.
To prove his point, Brown stopped in before sunrise at the downtown Atlanta hotel housing media, made calls at 4 a.m. to writers he knew that covered him and had them gather in the lobby for some storytelling.
LSU won three games before losing 69-62 to Alabama in the championship game. Alabama head coach Wimp Sanderson joked afterwards saying the game’s turning point was when Sanderson said he “looked down at the LSU bench and saw Dale sleeping.”
Now for the first time, fifth-year LSU head coach Will Wade faces the prospect of his 21-10 Tigers having to win four games in four days to win their second-ever SEC tourney title.
So Will, do you believe fatigue is a state of. . .
“I don't sleep much but I’m not gonna do that,” Wade said of following Brown’s legendary sleep deprivation motivation.
Wade and his staff certainly burned the midnight oil Wednesday night, once they knew their first opponent on Thursday afternoon in Tampa at 1 p.m. CT is Missouri (12-20), a 72-60 winner over Ole Miss in the tourney’s opening game.
LSU, which finished in a five-way tie for fifth in SEC regular season play at 9-9, has ridden a season-long rollercoaster of streaks. The Tigers started 15-1 including 3-1 in league play, then lost six of seven games when starting point guard Xavier Pinson was recovering from a knee injury and finished the season winning five of eight contests including a 75-55 home beatdown of Missouri less than two weeks ago.
LSU led only 30-24 at halftime before opening the second half scoring 15 consecutive points in the first 4½ minutes. In that stretch of perfection, LSU hit 6 of 7 shots, forced Mizzou 0 of 3 shooting and scored 8 points off 4 turnovers including 2 shot clock violations.
“I thought our game plan was good (against LSU),” Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said after his team’s Wednesday win over Ole Miss gave Mizzou another shot at LSU and Pinson, who transferred to LSU this season after three seasons as Mizzou’s starting point guard. “We just weren’t as strong as far as making shots and making plays. We didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball against their press. We’ll be ready this time.
“We're familiar with him (Pinson), but they have a talented team. It's not like you're just defending him. He does a great job of distributing the ball and making plays for them. But they have talented guys, so it's not just one guy.”
Against Missouri and in losses at Kentucky (71-68) and at Arkansas (77-76) as well last Saturday’s 80-77 home overtime win vs. Alabama, LSU has reduced its turnovers, raised its free throw percentage and dictated pace as it did early in the season.
“We certainly have been playing a lot better, a lot closer to our capabilities,” Wade said. “We're playing a lot closer to how we were earlier in the season.”
The win over Alabama last Saturday broke the Tigers’ five-game losing streak against the Crimson Tide, including an 80-79 loss in the 2021 SEC tournament finals.
“We’re probably one of the best situations we can be at this point for the NCAA tournament,” said LSU sophomore forward Tari Eason, who was named All-SEC first team and the Sixth Man of the Year by the league’s coaches on Tuesday.
LSU has been tabbed as a No. 6 seed in most NCAA tournament projections and has been considered a tourney lock for several weeks despite having to rally to finish .500 in league play.
The Tigers’ No. 16 NCAA NET ranking, which figures in tourney selection and seeding, is a combination of Wade’s wise non-conference scheduling (six of LSU’s 13 non-conference opponents have 21 or more wins) and the fact the SEC is assured of six NCAA bids with a couple of No. 1 or 2 projected seeds (Kentucky, Auburn), two likely No. 3 seeds (Tennessee, Arkansas), a probable No. 5 seed (Alabama) and LSU.
“We’re one of those six (NCAA) teams in our league,” Wade said. “You can play 10 total games against those other teams (during the regular season) and we’ve played nine (going 3-6). Of the nine, we played five on the road and four at home. We've had a very challenging schedule, which prepares us as we go into March.”
The Tigers entered last March’s SEC tournament with Wade emphasizing his team needed to prove it could make a deep league tourney run, but this season is different. It seems as if LSU’s goal, with an NCAA tourney bid almost in hand, is it simply doesn’t want any seed slippage.
“In our first game (vs. Missouri), we don't need to knock our seeding down (by losing),” Wade said. “We don't need to give back what we got against Alabama. And then if we can beat them (Missouri), you’ve got a crack to help yourself again.”
If LSU beats Missouri, it will play fourth-seeded Arkansas (24-7) in Friday’s quarterfinals at 1 p.m. CT. The Tigers have lost the Razorbacks twice this season.
“We've got to put everything we have into winning the first one and then we'll kind of figure it out from there,” Wade said. “We want to be confident, we want to be loose, we’ve just got to be aggressive. I tell our guys all the time in tournament play if you make mistakes, make aggressive mistakes. We don't want to make any passive mistakes.
“We need to make our free throws, not turn the ball over, and be sound on defense. I sound like a broken record, but that's what wins in tournament basketball. That's what wins in tight games and tough games. That's what gets it done.”
There’s also the added distraction of Tuesday’s report from Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde that LSU has finally received an official notice of allegations from the NCAA concerning the three-year old case of alleged recruiting infractions by Wade.
Wade has not and will likely not address the latest report. Neither will the LSU administration.
“Per NCAA rules and procedures, LSU is unable to comment on any aspect of the ongoing case,” LSU athletics spokesperson Cody Worsham said Wednesday. “We will continue to cooperate fully with the IARP as we work together toward a resolution.”
