There’s almost a national media consensus that last Saturday’s firing of LSU head coach Will Wade and top assistant Bill Armstrong for alleged NCAA Level 1 rules violations is a distraction the Tigers won’t overcome in an NCAA Midwest Regional first round game vs. Iowa State in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum Friday at 6:20 p.m.
“A lot of people feel there's a dark cloud around LSU basketball,” LSU senior forward Darius Days said at Thursday’s on-site press conference, "but that's how it's been since I got there. We had a couple shirts made (that read) LSU Vs. The World. At all times, that's how we feel – LSU vs. the World.”
Well, not quite. Las Vegas oddmakers have the 6th seeded Tigers (22-11) – even with assistant Kevin Nickelberry as interim coach – as a 4½-point favorite against the 11th seeded Cyclones (20-12).
LSU started the season 15-1 including 3-1 in the SEC, then lost 5 of 6 games while starting senior point guard Xavier Pinson healed a knee injury and finished the regular season winning 5 of its last 8 games before going 1-1 in the SEC tournament beating Missouri and losing to Arkansas last Friday.
Then on Saturday, LSU President William Tate IV and athletic director Scott Woodward dropped the bomb. After the school received early last week the notice of allegations from the CCU of the NCAA’s NCAA’s Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) following a three-year investigation, Wade and Armstrong were immediately fired
The 57-year old Nickelberry, who has 15 years of college head coach experience including 12 on the Division 1 level, was elevated to interim coach. He immediately had Days speak to the team because Days is the only remaining player from the 2018-19 Tigers’ squad that played four post-season games including three in a run to the Sweet 16 under interim Tony Benford.
Benford became interim when Wade was suspended by LSU for the SEC and NCAA tournaments for refusing to talk with school administrators after a Yahoo Sports revealed Wade’s voice was on FBI wiretaps with aspiring agent Christian Dawkins as Wade discussed buying high school prospects.
“Just be solid and continue,” Days said about his addressing the team last Saturday. “Let's keep doing the things we've been doing, playing hard and loving each other and playing for each other and just lean on each other. If we continue doing that, the sky's the limit for our team.”
Nickelberry said on Thursday the response he has gotten from the players in practice has been incredible.
“I told them after practice today the most important thing for us is that we have both feet in the boat,” Nickelberry said. “I can't promise them it's going to be a cruise ship smooth or a little rowboat in the middle of a swamp rocky, but we need all feet in together locked with one objective.”
Iowa State, which was 0-18 in the Big 12 last season before hiring UNLV coach T.J. Otzelberger, needs one win to set the school record for the biggest turnaround in school history.
The Cyclones started the season 12-0, including a 19-point win over then-No. 9 Memphis and a 20-point win over Iowa. Then, Iowa State began Big 12 play 4-9 before winning 4 its last 6 regular season games before losing by 31 in the Big 12 tourney to then-No. 12 Texas Tech.
“Our guys relish being the underdog, relish coming into an opportunity where we have that chip on our shoulder and we have something to prove,” Otzelberger said. “They take a lot of pride in what we've done to this point, to have the turnaround of 18 games and be playing in this tournament. So, I expect them to play with relentless energy and that chip on their shoulder.”
Iowa State starts three transfers, led by senior guard and Penn State transfer Izaiah Brockington (17.2 points, 7.1 rebounds per game) who was named the Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Year. Also, guard Tyrese Hunter (10.8 ppg) was named the league’s Freshman of the Year.
“Hunter and Brockington are good,” Nickelberry said. “We're going to have to contain them. We're going to have to make them uncomfortable. We're going to have to make someone else beat us.”
For Iowa State, the object is to not disintegrate against LSU’s full-court pressure, which is how the Tigers jumpstart their offense.
“They're extremely athletic, play with a lot of swagger,” Brockington said of LSU. “They draw confidence from their ability to intimidate other teams and get easy fast break buckets. That gets them going, gives them a lot of momentum. So just not letting them have those, we'll see how that works.”
A defensive battle is expected. LSU is sixth in the nation in defensive efficiency and Iowa State is 10th. The Tigers are second nationally in turnover percentage and the Cyclones are sixth.
The winner of LSU-Iowa State advances to Sunday’s second round against the winner of No. 3 seeded Wisconsin and No. 14 Colgate.
