LSU Uses Unpredicatble Method of Success in NCAA Tournament Win Over St. Bonaventure

LSU's offense has carried it throughout most of the season. That much has been obvious as the Tigers have been a consistent top 10 offensive team over the entire season.

But the Tigers only had four points through 10 minutes and while the offense would come on in the second half, it was two areas this team has struggled with consistently that kept them in the game. Defense and rebounding were the primary reasons as to why LSU is advancing to face No. 1 seed Michigan on Monday.

The goal going into the game, according to coach Will Wade after the game, was to force St. Bonaventure out of the paint and become a perimeter shooting team. Mission accomplished as the Tigers were able to force the Bonnies into an 0-for-10 start from beyond-the-arc while the offense tried to find its footing.

Switching played a significant part of the perimeter defensive success as the Tigers kept the Bonnies from getting into the paint off of screens by staying in front of the guards.

"When you can switch and stay in front of everybody, it makes it very difficult on the other team so I thought the switching really bothered them and we forced them into some contested jump shots," Wade said. "Our guys were locked in and knew where the shooters were.

"We got stops when needed. We went on a stretch in the second half where we got like four or five stops in a row and we scored on it, so I felt like that's what helped us pull away because we got stops, and that's what we really need to do in this tournament for us to make a deep run, get stops," Cam Thomas added.

For the game St. Bonaventure shot just 33% from the field and 15% from three-point range because of the suffocating perimeter defense. Some of the bright spots defensively was the havoc that Aundre Hyatt, Javonte Smart and Mwani Wilkinson created on the perimeter, particularly Hyatt.

He was stellar en route to 13 points that also included four blocks and a steal on the afternoon.

Of course the other half of the equation was the rebounding, an area that LSU won handily 45-29. The offensive boards was an area Wade was concerned with in particular prior to the game but the Tigers even handled the offensive glass, grabbing 13 to the Bonnies nine.

Once again, the effort from Hyatt can be immediately attributed to the Tigers' success on the offensive glass, grabbing seven of his 10 total on the offensive end of the floor.

"Dre was on the glass, defensive glass in the first half. And he hit big shots when we needed him to. I think he hit one three at the top of the key because a big was sitting in the paint and a lot of offensive rebound put-backs," Thomas said. "That's what helped us. We're going to need Dre to make a deep run in the tournament, so I felt like this was a great starting point for him."

Defense and rebounding are two categoriess that separate teams come NCAA tournament time and the Tigers have done well in both areas since the start of the SEC Tournament. With No. 1 Michigan right around the corner, the Tigers face another daunting task but it's one that Wade feels his team is ready for with the kind of effort he's seen from his team in recent weeks.

"We've played a lot more physical lately," Wade said. "Today we were really physical on the glass and we're gonna have to play our best game of the season on Monday, there's no doubt about that. Hopefully we're building towards that and can reach a cresendo on Monday."

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