When your 12th nationally ranked basketball team is rocking along with a 15-1 record including three wins in its first four conference games, the human tendency is to embrace status quo.
But LSU coach Will Wade doesn’t work that way.
“We've got to continue to stay disciplined with our details as people (opponents) are going to start picking it apart,” said Wade, whose Tigers host Arkansas Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU’s defense is ranked first among 350 NCAA Division 1 schools in field goal percentage defense (35 percent), first in the nation in steals per game (12.1), first in the nation in total steals (193), fifth in scoring defense (56.5) and sixth in scoring margin (19.6).
Yet, there’s always an area of concern for Wade to address with his team as it pops up. When it happens – like the Tigers’ wildly undisciplined shot selection in their SEC opening loss at Auburn (LSU lofted 13 3-point attempts in its first 18 shots) – he fixes it.
“I was very animated about where I wanted our shots to come from and how we were going to generate those shots,” Wade said of his course correction in practices following the loss.
In the three games (and wins) against Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida since the Auburn loss when LSU was 18-of-63 (28.6 percent) from the field including 6 of a season-high 29 3-pointers (20.7 percent), the Tigers have raised their field goal percentage in each performance while gradually shooting fewer and fewer 3s.
Wade’s latest task is to reduce the Tigers’ fouls and turnovers while playing their relentless attacking style on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.
LSU has averaged 22 fouls per game in SEC play compared to 15.7 for its opponents. The Tigers have attempted 32 fewer free throws (105 to 73) than its opponents and made 16 fewer free throws (61 to 45).
In LSU’s 64-58 win at Florida on Wednesday, the Tigers were whistled for 21 fouls (Florida had 10). LSU reserve forward Tari Eason and starting center Efton Reid played just seven and 13 minutes respectively before both fouled out (Eason with 14:07 left, Reid with 7:16 left).
“I'm not saying we didn't foul 21 times, we get our licks in,” Wade said. “But like five of them – three of Tari and one of Efton’s and one of the other ones – were after we didn't get a defensive rebound. Those are the ones that are preventable for us.
“Now, some of the (defensive) aggressiveness and the trap (defense), that's just (officiating) judgment. I can change the stuff that we can control.”
Wade, who said after the Kentucky game (when LSU had a season-high 26 fouls) he never calls the SEC office in Birmingham to address officiating concerns, said at his Friday press conference he had a pointed phone conversation Thursday morning with league supervisor of basketball officials Mike Eades.
“We are top three in the league at shots at rim (such as layups, putbacks) but in the bottom four in free throws,” Wade said using stats to spotlight LSU's foul and free throw discrepancy. “That’s an irrefutable fact. I’m not teaching my kids to avoid contact better than other teams. I teach them to create contact.”
One other sometimes shaky spot for the Tigers is turnovers committed/turnovers created combined with winning/losing the offensive rebound war.
“If we don't win the turnover battle and we get outrebounded (on the offensive boards), it’s very difficult for us to win,” Wade said. “It’s more about how many (offensive) opportunities you give yourself, about shots on goal.
“I’m concerned with our turnovers. We’re at about 14 (14.4) I’d like to get that to 12 because two possessions mean a world of difference in the SEC.”
So far this season, LSU has had more possessions than its opponents in 10 of 16 games (including the last six), won the offensive rebound battle eight times and forced more turnovers than it committed in 12 games.
It’s likely LSU will be without starting senior point guard Xavier Pinson for a second straight game. Pinson sustained a sprained knee in last Saturday’s win over Tennessee when he slipped on a wet spot on the floor on a drive.
"He's running and moving better, but I just don't think he's quite ready to play," Wade said. "We'll see tomorrow (Saturday) morning, let him run around a little bit and see what he thinks.”
Arkansas (11-5, 1-3) will be without head coach Eric Musselman, who underwent rotator cuff surgery Thursday. Musselman tabbed veteran 57-year assistant Keith Smart, a Baton Rouge native, as the interim head coach.
Smart, who hit a game-winning shot for Indiana in the 1987 NCAA championship game vs. Syracuse in the Superdome, has been a head coach for three NBA teams including a full season with Golden State and two with Sacramento.
“My family has watched me coach when we played the Pelicans,” Smart said Thursday. “They always would take that trip up to New Orleans and come watch a game every time we played there.
“Now that it’s right there in Baton Rouge at LSU, it just makes it a little bit more sweeter.”
