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LSU Basketball Not Losing Sight of Bigger Picture With Key Players Out

Tigers' latest message is knowing "best views come from the roughest climbs"
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Nobody within the LSU basketball program is panicking. Despite being in the middle of a three game drought with multiple players out of the lineup, this is a team that Will Wade insists is built to be a winner. 

The Tigers returned home after being on the road for most of last week with plenty of areas to work on. Offensive changes are coming but the one message Wade wants his players to know is that while the going may be tough in the short term, how this team handles adversity will pay off in the long run this season.

"I told them yesterday the best views come from the roughest climbs," Wade said. "We've got to keep climbing, we'll fall down a little bit but we gotta keep climbing and we'll like where we're at in the end."

Facing a Texas A&M team on Wednesday that thrives in trapping the opposing team's ball handlers, LSU has got to be more disciplined with the ball and one of the ways Wade has tried fixing some of the issues that have cropped up is just simplifying various aspects. It's no secret that LSU is really missing the veteran presence of Xavier Pinson and as a result are asking others to do things that don't play to their strengths.

How this team is able to patch up some of its more glaring issues on the offensive end will ultimately tell how much this team can get back on track this week against the Aggies and TCU this weekend. 

"We can't do exactly what we've been working on all year so we just need some time to flip it," Wade said. "We gotta simplify, there's only two or three things and hopefully that'll be enough to get us through the week. Then we'll put some duct tape on the holes that open up at the end of this week."

Guys are playing heavy minutes and with both Pinson and Darius Days very questionable for tomorrow's game, the lineups could continue to be wonky until those two are healthy. It's a difficult position for the team to be in, especially falling to 3-4 in conference play, but Wade looks at it as an opportunity to learn more about this group.

"I don't look at it as difficult, I look at it as opportunity. We've got an opportunity to get better, we're gonna be really good when we get everybody back," Wade said. "It's gonna take some time to build back to where we need to be. We're built on a solid foundation, we're fine. Nobody's panicking."