Scouting Report: LSU Tigers

Big Blue Nation just saw how much can change in a week’s time. On Saturday, February 10th the Kentucky Wildcats lost their third straight game at Rupp Arena for the first time ever. It was perhaps the lowest low of what was quickly becoming a disappointing season. However, just a week later, the ‘Cats experienced possibly their highest high. Kentucky went into Neville Arena and defeated the Auburn Tigers 70-59. That came after beating Ole Miss 75-63 in Lexington on Tuesday. It was important to log the pair of wins, but the manner in which they came was impressive as well. In the most unexpected turn of events, Kentucky posted the best defensive efficiency in the country, per Bart Torvick, last week. Now, they must go on the road to Baton Rogue and battle the LSU Tigers.

It is both a blessing and curse in the teeth of conference play that the next game is always right around the corner. A quick turnaround always offers the opportunity to rid the taste of a loss in express fashion. However, it also allows no time for celebrating after a big, emotional win like the Wildcats experienced on Saturday. In order for the win at Auburn to be as impactful as it could be, Kentucky must take care of business at LSU on Wednesday night. The 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time tip-off on ESPN provides a “prove it” opportunity for the ‘Cats. Have they really turned a corner defensively? Do they have the concentration and toughness to go on the road again after a big win and do what they need to do? We will find out on Wednesday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

As always, we have prepared a full, in-depth scouting report for Kentucky’s next opponent. We will take a deep dive into the Tigers’ personnel, break down their offensive and defensive schemes, and highlight the keys to the game for the Cats. Let’s dive in and get to know more about the LSU Tigers.

LSU Tigers Personnel

Starters

#0 Trae Hannibal: 6’2″ 221 lbs, Fifth Year Senior Guard

5.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.5 apg

Primary ball handler. Extremely strong, physical, and athletic. He is a NON-SHOOTER. Just 3-5 from 3 on the season after going 1-7 last year. He is only going to shoot from the perimeter if he HAS to at the end of the shot clock. Therefore, you need to back up and stay between him and the basket. There is no reason to be all of the way out on the perimeter guarding him. Right hand driver!!! NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short to him on the perimeter. You should always be thinking about staying between him and the basket. Very physical at the end of his drives. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. We want him shooting non-paint 2’s. No right hand drives. No layups!

#6 Jordan Wright: 6’6″ 230 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

15.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.6 apg

Strong, physical guard. Shooter! No catch-and-shoot 3’s! He has attempted 115 3’s this season and is shooting 33.9% from deep. You need to be tight to him on the perimeter to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. If you help off of him you better either steal the ball or foul. Once you take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s you need to bounce back and guard against the right hand drives. Very physical right hand driver. Move your feet and cut him off. Be prepared for him to take it right through your chest. Be physical, stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Coming back right to finish. Crashes the offensive glass hard. Make contact and box him out. No catch-and-shoot 3’s. No straight line right hand drives.

#15 Tyrell Ward: 6’6″ 180 lbs, Sophomore Guard/Forward

8.3 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 0.9 apg

Long, athletic guard. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 83 of 142 shots have been 3’s. Shooting 42.2% from 3. You need to be tight to him at all times on the perimeter to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Absolutely no help off of him. He is the next most dangerous man when matching up in transition. Go OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE him off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Switch anytime there is too much space and get out aggressively to take him away from 3. You need to pick him up out beyond the 3-point line. Once you take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s he will look to drive it right. Not really thinking about passing. Step in and try to take it off of him. Absolutely no catch-and-shoot 3’s for him.

#20 Derek Fountain: 6’10” 222 lbs, Senior Forward

5.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.5 apg

Long, athletic forward. Will shoot the wide open, catch-and-shoot 3’s. However, he is much better and more aggressive as a slasher and right hand driver. No right hand drives! He will play out on the perimeter looking to attack closeouts. You should closeout a step short with high hands and choppy feet to guard against the right hand drive. When he catches it in the post he would prefer to face-up and either shoot the face-up jump shot or drive it right. Give a hard contest if he shoots the face-up jump shot. Right hand, left shoulder with his back to the basket. Be physical, stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Don’t stare at the ball and let him backcut you. Find him and make contact when the shot goes up. Good offensive rebounder. No right hand drives!

#9 Will Baker: 7’0″ 245 lbs, Graduate Student Center

12.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0.9 apg

Left-handed. Skilled 5-man. Very capable shooter. Treat him like #4 Broome from Auburn. You need to be there to take away the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s. Don’t let him stare you down and squeeze one off because you aren’t close enough. Get all of the way out to him. Will pick-and-pop when he ballscreens on the perimeter. Closeout to take away the pick-and-pop 3’s. We want to make him bounce it on the perimeter. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. No quick drop steps. Be physical on his right shoulder and make him score it with his right hand. Get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. 23 assists, 47 turnovers. Come take it off of him. Box out!!! Contest everything.

Bench

#13 Jalen Reed: 6’10” 226 lbs, Sophomore Forward

8.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 1.0 apg

Skilled 4-man. Capable shooter, but much better and more aggressive operating around the basket. Right hand driver. No right hand drives! He will play out on the perimeter looking to attack closeouts. Really likes to catch the ball off of the block and face-up. He will shoot the face-up jump shot or drive it right. Be ready to give a hard contest if he shoots the face-up jumper. If he starts going left he is just setting you up to spin back right. You can come take it off of him when he spins back right. 23 assists, 44 turnovers. Not thinking about passing inside. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Box out!!! Contest everything.

#2 Mike Williams III: 6’3″ 181 lbs, Freshman Guard

7.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 1.3 apg

Aggressive, athletic guard. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 84 of 153 shots have been 3’s. Shooting 38.1% from 3. You need to be tight to him at all times on the perimeter to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Absolutely no help off of him. He is the next most dangerous man when matching up in transition. Go OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE him off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. Switch anytime there is too much space and get out aggressively to take him away from 3. You need to pick him up out beyond the 3-point line. Once you take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s he will look to drive it right. Don’t get smoked in a straight line, but we want to make him score 2’s. Absolutely no catch-and-shoot 3’s for him.

#12 Hunter Dean: 6’10” 250 lbs, Graduate Student Center

3.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.5 apg

Backup 5-man. Primarily just looking to score directly at the rim. He will ballscreen and roll hard to the basket. You just need to stay lower than him on the roll. Won’t really look to score if you are between him and the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. He will crash the offensive glass hard. Find him and make contact when the shot goes up. Box out! Don’t let him play harder than you. Will rim run hard in transition and rolls hard to the rim off of the ballscreen in the half court. Don’t help up off of him at the rim and give up a dunk. No layups or dunks.

#5 Mwani Wilkinson: 6’5″ 205 lbs, Senior Guard

1.9 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.3 apg

Athletic backup guard. Very willing shooter. 36 of 43 shots have been 3’s. He wants to shoot catch-and-shoot 3’s. Shooting just 25% from 3. You still need to be there to take away the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s. It is okay to help off of him some, but then closeout more aggressively with high hands. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Not shooting a good percentage, but he has been a 40% shooter in the past and all he really is looking to do is shoot jump shots. Once you take away the initial catch-and-shoot 3 he will drive it right. Not that worried about him making 2’s, we just don’t want to give up contested catch-and-shoot 3’s.

LSU Tigers Offense

In year one, Coach Matt McMahon’s team was one of the least efficient offenses in the country. Their effective field goal percentage, per KenPom, ranked 318th in the country. However, this season, that has improved to 79th. That is why the LSU Tigers have already more than doubled their SEC win total from last season. Their big, athletic backcourt has done a great job of executing in pick-and-roll situations where they score in the 92nd percentile according to Synergy. They also rate highly in spot up and post up opportunities. Where they haven’t been nearly as efficient, despite a continued propensity to attack, is in transition. The Tigers are a 4-around-1 Motion team that will get into several 5-out looks as well with #9 Baker at the 5. They want to spread you out, drive it hard, and have shooters ready to fire when help comes.

---

Here is a good look at some of the LSU Tigers half court Motion. You can see how it starts very spread out in a 5-out look. This is a called entry where #12 Dean hands off on the wing and then sets a downscreen for #15 Ward. Obviously they are looking for a shot, but it is also a good opportunity to feed the post. However, this time, there is nothing there and the ball gets reversed. A lot of these Motion possessions will end in a ballscreen or handoff action. You need to get in there and help more off of #0 Hannibal and #13 Reed so we can stay with the roll man. Stunt and fake at him more off of the ball to allow your teammate guarding the roll to recover sooner. Also, this late in the shot clock, you can just switch the little handoff.

---

Look for #6 Wright to be utilized in the post some due to his combination of size, strength, and skill. Coach Stackhouse ran a lot of similar actions for him at Vanderbilt as well. The Tigers bright him off of a backscreen here to get a catch off of the block. Then, they will always combine it with some sort of action on the perimeter. You can see the staggered double happening here and #9 Baker steps back after setting his screen. We have to be tighter to him on the perimeter. Again, it is like guarding #4 Broome from Auburn. Be there to take away his catch-and-shoot 3’s.

---

Coach McMahon does a good job of structuring the Tigers offense to give as much space for them to play in as possible. However, despite their success shooting the basketball, there are always a couple of guys in there that you can help off of aggressively. Also, we need a lot more resistance at the point of the screen to not let #15 Ward come off so cleanly to his right hand. Get in there off of #6 Wright when he is this far away from the basket. Get in there off of #0 Hannibal who won’t shoot even if he is open. We can’t let him them get downhill this easily.

---

LSU features a pair of 6’6″ guards on the wing that are good shooters, but also can drive it right. In the previous clip you saw #15 Ward come off of the handoff and turn the corner to the rim. This time, he came off of the zoom action and forced a switch. When you switch onto Ward you have to switch OUT to him and take away the 3. We don’t want to give up a dunk like the previous clip either, but we would rather that than a 3.

---

#9 Baker has had a strong season for the LSU Tigers after transferring from Nevada. The 7’0″ left-handed post player is a very capable catch-and-shoot threat from the perimeter, but he still gets the majority of his work done inside. This is a set play that they will run from a secondary alignment to get Baker the ball inside. It begins with a reversal through the trail spot while Baker follows the ball off of a cross screen block-to-block. You can expect a screen-the-screener action off of this as well, but in this clip they were able to immediately enter the ball into the post. Remember that he is left-handed!!! When he dribbles towards the midline he is just setting you up to come back left.

LSU Tigers Defense

The LSU Tigers are athletic and have good positional size across the board. However, it hasn’t necessarily translated to a great defense. They give up a ton of open looks from three-point range due to the propensity to help with two hands and two feet. That is something that should play into our advantage in this matchup. Furthermore, the Tigers are not good on the defensive glass at all. Opponents have gotten 31.8% of their misses on the season which has hurt their otherwise pretty good interior defense. This is a team that will be aggressive in the gaps and prioritize protecting the paint above all else. It might be harder to get all of the way to the rim in this game, but if you move the ball there should be open 3-point shots available.

Keys to the Game

• No 3’s for #2 Williams III, #6 Wright, or #15 Ward. You have to be tight to these guys at all times. Get OVER the ballscreens, CHASE off of downscreens, and get OVER the flares. LSU winning would involve these guys having a big game from 3. Hold them to 4 or fewer combined 3’s.
• Control the glass. The LSU Tigers are one of the weaker rebounding teams in the SEC. We need to get second chance opportunities offensively and limit them to one shot defensively. 30%+ on the offensive glass, 75%+ on the defensive glass.
• Shoot it in from 3. Opponents get off a ton of 3-point shots against the Tigers and score 34.9% of their points from deep on the season which is 43rd most nationally. We need to get back to getting more looks from deep. Make double-digit 3’s.
• Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.