Scouting Report: LSU Tigers

Welcome to the grind of Southeastern Conference play. Throughout the rest of January the Kentucky Wildcats settle into their Tuesday/Saturday schedule with a total of nine league games this month. The journey begins on Tuesday night against the LSU Tigers at Rupp Arena. LSU comes to Lexington with a 12-1 overall record and a 1-0 start in the SEC after last week’s impressive win over Arkansas. The Tigers are now the first team outside of the AP Top 25 in the receiving votes category after their excellent start.

Coach Matt McMahon went 31-3 last season at Murray State and made the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to Saint Peter’s. After taking over in Baton Rouge he was tasked with essentially completely rebuilding LSU’s roster. Only two rotation players on this year’s team earned minutes last season. However, Adam Miller is also a returner though he missed all of last season due to injury. Coach McMahon’s rebuild started with bringing three of his stars from Murray State with him. Some other transfer portal wins and the addition of 5-star freshman Jalen Reed all of the sudden gave the Tigers a roster ready to compete towards the top of the SEC once again. It has certainly worked out so far.

Tuesday night’s game is a big one for Kentucky. With road tests at Alabama and Tennessee coming up the Wildcats desperately need to hold serve with a quality home conference win. To get you ready for the important contest we’ve got a full scouting report prepared. We will deep-dive into their personnel, breakdown their offensive and defensive schemes, and outline the keys to the game. Let’s dive on in and get to know the LSU Tigers.

LSU Tigers Personnel

Starters

#3 Justice Hill: 6’0″ 175 lbs, Senior Guard

8.2 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 3.9 apg

Aggressive playmaking point guard. Very quick and athletic. Willing shooter. 14-49 from 3-point range this season, but was 35.9% last season at Murray State. More dangerous as a right hand driver. No right hand drives!!! Hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs to start. Especially want to go underneath when #12 Williams is setting them so we can stay with him and take away the pick-and-pop. Going under will help keep him from turning the corner downhill as well. Give ground and stay between him and the basket when he drives it. Don’t over help when he is driving it. He is a better passer than finisher. Get your hands up and make him finish over you. Get the ball stopped in transition. No layups!

#1 Cam Hayes: 6’2″ 185 lbs, Junior Guard

8.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.2 apg

Athletic guard. Shooter! No 3’s! Half of his shots have been 3’s. Not supper aggressive squeezing them off, but is 41.2% on over one make per game. Need to be tight enough to take him away from 3. Despite his shooting ability we should start the game hopping under the ballscreens and handoffs. Especially want to go underneath when #12 Williams is setting them so we can stay with him and take away the pick-and-pop. Get your hands up and recover quickly to deter him shooting behind when you go under. Right hand driver. No right hand drives! Get over and cut him off. Don’t want to let him get going downhill to his right hand. Stay tighter with him when he doesn’t have it to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Chase off of downscreens and get over the flares. Switch if there is too much space. No open 3’s!

#44 Adam Miller: 6’3″ 190 lbs, Redshirt Sophomore Guard

13.0 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.5 apg

Lefty. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 95 of 148 shots have been 3’s. Be there on the catch to take away all catch-and-shoot 3’s. He is aggressively looking to squeeze them off. Have to be tight to him at all times. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. No help off of him. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off of downscreens and get over the flares. Switch anytime there is too much space. Switch OUT take to him away from 3. Once you take him away from 3 he is going to drive it left. No left hand drives! You need to bring help when he is driving it left and make him give it up or take it off of him. Not really thinking about passing. 19 assists, 26 turnovers. Make him pass it when going left. Shoots the pull going going right. No 3’s!

#20 Derek Fountain: 6’10” 225 lbs, Junior Forward

7.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 0.8 apg

Long, thinner 4-man. Right hand driver! No right hand drives!!! He is looking to operate from the elbows and drive it right. Not super comfortable handling it if he can’t drive it in a straight line. You can bring some help when he is going right and try to take it off of him. 10 assists, 17 turnovers. Will shoot the face-up jumper, but much more aggressive driving it right. Just put a hand up to contest any face-up jumpers. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and get him off of the block. Probably will face-up to try and drive it right. No quick drop steps. Crashes the offensive glass hard. Over 2 offensive rebounds per game. Box out!!!

#12 KJ Williams: 6’10” 250 lbs, Fifth Year Senior Forward

18.5 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.0 apg

Strong, skilled 5-man. Best player and most aggressive offensively. SHOOTER!!! Excellent on the pick-and-pop. 25-51 from 3. Have to stay as attached to him as possible to take away the pick-and-pop 3’s. That is why we want to go under the ballscreens so we don’t have to hedge and give up pick-and-pop 3’s. Extremely physical around the basket. They will run a lot of sets for him to get a catch inside. Be physical and get him off of the block. Right hand, left shoulder inside. Not super comfortable bouncing it. 13 assists, 23 turnovers. By his second dribble you should be aggressively digging the ball out of the post and trying to take it off of him. Stunt and fake at him to make him think you are coming. Elite offensive rebounder. Averaging over 3 per game. BOX OUT! No pick-and-pop 3’s!

Bench

#0 Trae Hannibal: 6’2″ 215 lbs, Senior Guard

5.6 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.7 apg

Extremely strong and quick backup point guard. Will be aggressive when he is in there. Coming off 19-point game against Arkansas. Aggressive right hand driver. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! He is a non-shooter. Just 1-3 from 3. You do not need to guard him out on the 3-point line. Back up and be ready for him to drive it right. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Especially want to go underneath when #12 Williams is setting them so we can stay with him and take away the pick-and-pop. Going under will help keep him from turning the corner downhill as well. Be ready for him to initiate contact on his drives. Get your hands up and make him score over you. Exclusively looking to score via right hand layups at the rim. Will crash the offensive glass. Box out. Absolutely no right hand drives! No layups!

#11 Justice Williams: 6’4″ 175 lbs, Sophomore Guard

3.6 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 0.9 apg

Long, thin backup guard. Non-shooter. 0-10 from 3 this season, 2-21 on his career. You can back up and play off of him. Be an aggressive helper. There is no need to guard him out on the 3-point line. He will look to cut to the basket some so don’t completely lose sight of him, but definitely want you in there off of him being a helper. Closeout short. Right hand driver. No right hand drives! Go underneath the ballscreens and handoffs. Very athletic. Wants to get downhill and attack the rim in a straight line to his right. You can come take it off of him when he drives it right. No layups for him!

#13 Jalen Reed: 6’10” 230 lbs, Freshman Forward

3.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.5 apg

Backup big man. Very fluid athlete. Capable face-up jump shooter. Need to have a hand in his face to contest his face-up jumpers. Will put it on the floor and drive it right when he faces up. No right hand drives! Just stay between him and the basket, wall up, and make him score over you. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Always coming back right to finish if he doesn’t shoot the face-up jumper. No quick drop steps. You can look for opportunities to come take it off of him. 7 assists, 16 turnovers. Will run the floor hard in transition. Don’t let him beat you on the rim run. Give ground and stay between him and the basket on the roll. Stay attached if we are still are hopping underneath. Box out. No right hand, left shoulder baskets!

#5 Mwani Wilkinson: 6’5″ 205 lbs, Junior Forward

2.8 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.8 apg

Super athletic backup wing. No catch-and-shoot 3’s! 18 of 27 shots have been 3’s. Shooting a better percentage from 3 than 2. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you to take away the catch-and-shoot 3. He will look to drive it right when you take it away. No right hand drives! Good slasher and cutter off of the ball. Need to see him and the ball when you are helping off of him. Runs hard in transition. Get all the way back. No transition dunks from the throw ahead. No catch-and-shoot 3’s.

#4 Kendal Coleman: 6’8″ 230 lbs, Junior Center

2.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.1 apg

Backup undersized 5-man. Exclusively looking to score inside at the rim. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Need to 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. No quick drop steps. Be physical on his left shoulder and make him score over you. Plays very hard. Crashes the offensive glass. Box out!

LSU Tigers Offense

Coach McMahon is going to call a ton of set plays in the half court. They have some unique actions that we will discuss on film, but also some general Horns sets, ballscreen actions, and diagonal backscreen plays to free up #12 Williams. The LSU Tigers base offense will include ballscreen continuity, 4-around-1 Motion, and 5-out Motion. However, you can expect a lot of possessions to start with some type of set, called action. They have not shot the ball well from beyond the arc of late going 10-38 in their last two games and a recent 4-25 performance against North Carolina Central. When they struggle to score they generally are turning the ball over a lot as well.

LSU has some dangerous pieces, but there isn’t an electric individual playmaker. If you contain #12 Williams, don’t give layups off the ballscreen to the guards, and #44 Miller doesn’t get hot from 3 it will be hard for them to score enough to win. KYP (Know Your Personnel) will be very important to winning this game. Make good personnel scouting report decisions defensively and you’ll hold them in the low-60’s.

---

This is an example of a Horns ballscreen set the LSU Tigers will run. The call for this is either “Side-1” or “Slot-1.” This ballscreen action set two times is something we have been running more recently as well. We want to go under the ballscreens an stay attached to #12 Williams, but this action makes it hard to hop under if you don’t see it coming. However, you HAVE to recover to #12 Williams quicker than this. Just switch the ballscreen if you need to. Once the ball handler is in the paint it HAS to be a switch. #0 for Arkansas should have gotten back to #12 Williams to take away the 3. If he can get it off then you didn’t contest well enough.

---

The first clip is an example of what can’t have happen in terms of guarding #12 Williams on the ballscreen. This is an example of what we can’t have happen guarding the ball handler on the ballscreen. We want to give as little help off of #12 Williams as possible, but you can’t leave the ball handler unguarded to get downhill. This is why we want to hop underneath. If #1 Hayes makes a couple behind the screen then we can talk about adjusting. However, until he does, go under and don’t give up layups like this.

---

These first three clips all essentially go together. This is part three of the three-part series. The LSU Tigers exploited Arkansas early with a pick-and-pop 3 by #12 Williams and by getting their guards all the way to the rim. It is bad enough to give up one or the other, but we definitely can’t survive allowing both. This clip is a perfect example of the ballscreen defense we want in this one. #0 goes underneath the ballscreen to meet #3 Hill on the other side. By going underneath it allows #15 to stay right with #12 Williams. We will let #3 Hill shoot this shot as many times as he wants. 14-49 from 3 this season. Let’s see if he can make enough to win the game.

---

Within their half court offense, LSU will get to a lot of this downscreen to handoff action. When #0 Hannibal comes off you have to be thinking about him driving it right. He is ALWAYS coming back right. We have to have better focus than this and not give up right hand layups to #0 Hannibal.

---

Here is a look at the LSU Tigers ballscreen continuity that they will run a lot in the half court. We can’t let #44 Miller reject the ballscreen/handoff into a shot like this. He really likes to bounce it in his right hand before shooting so you have to know he is looking for this when coming off the wing on that side. No 3’s for him!

LSU Tigers Defense

This is a primarily man-to-man team defensively that will use their athleticism and quickness to create some havoc. The LSU Tigers are 58th nationally in turnover percentage created and 34th in steal percentage. They will use their ability to create turnovers to manufacture some easy scoring opportunities. LSU’s guards are very quick with the ability to stay in front of the ball while their forwards are athletic and switchable which helps stay in front of the ball as well. Recently, Coach McMahon has mixed in some possessions of 2-3 Zone too so we need to be ready for that potentially. However, it is likely that the vast majority of their defensive possessions will be man-to-man. Their ability to guard the 3-point line, opponents have shot just 27.6% from deep, has helped them when several games down the stretch.

Keys to the Game

• Contain #12 Williams. No pick-and-pop 3’s! Ballscreen defense needs to be sound to stay with him on the pick-and-pop.
• No 3’s for #44 Miller. Hold him to 25% or below from beyond the arc. He is very aggressive so it is more about how many he misses than how many he makes because he will take some bad ones. Still, we want to try and take away his attempts.
• Win the turnover battle. Force 15 turnovers or more while turning it over 12 or fewer times.
• Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.