Atlanta – Louisiana State coach John Brady chirped all week about how his team needed to play “team defense” if it wanted to have any chance of beating top-seeded Duke.
But Brady kept secret his plan to throw practically the entire team, or at least the five Tigers on the court, at Blue Devils sharpshooter J.J. Redick.
About the only time Redick didn’t have a hand in his face Thursday was when he got off the team bus and entered the Georgia Dome for the NCAA Tournament’s Atlanta Regional. The top candidate for national player of the year, Redick scored 11 points in LSU’s 62-54 victory. That matched Redick’s season low, against Temple.
Fourth-seeded LSU (26-8), which started three freshmen and often plays four at the same time, is one game from reaching the Final Four for the fourth time in the program’s history and first time since 1986.
“We were going to double-team (Redick), follow him around double screens that they set for him,” Brady said. “And if there was any doubt that J.J. was going to break clean, even if it allowed (another Blue Devil) to go free, we were going to do that.”
Brady decided the Tigers, athletic but prone to youthful mistakes, were not going to let Redick beat them. The 6-foot-4 senior entered the game averaging 27.2 points but hit just 3-for-18 from the field.
Duke’s other star senior, 6-9 forward Shelden Williams, scored a game-best 23 points.
But that wasn’t enough to overcome an overall 27.7 percent shooting night for the Blue Devils (32-4), who entered the game as the NCAA Tournament’s overall No. 1 seed.
LSU freshman Garrett Temple, a 6-5 guard, drew the assignment of guarding Redick. But everybody else wearing purple came to help, including 6-9, 310-pound Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who blocked Redick’s path to the basket. And 6-7 jumping jack Tyrus Thomas, who swatted away five Duke shots.
“(Temple) played physical with me, and they really pressured the ball when I would come off screens, using their longer defenders,” Redick said. “And it helps when you have shot blockers.”
Brady called it the best defensive effort by an LSU team in his nine years at Baton Rouge.
“We knew we couldn’t let Redick get in a rhythm,” he said.
“(LSU) played a heck of game,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “It was tough for both teams to score. There weren’t a lot of open looks in that game.”
Still, Duke had its chances.
Two consecutive alley-oop slam dunks by 6-10 freshman Josh McRoberts, on lob passes from DeMarcus Nelson and Sean Dockery, put Duke up 42-40 with 10:15 remaining – the Blue Devils’ first lead since the opening eight minutes.
Duke widened its lead to 45-40 on a Nelson free throw with 8:47 remaining.
But LSU kept its poise. A 3-pointer by LSU senior Darrel Mitchell cut the deficit to two points. Then, after several lead changes, the Tigers went ahead for good when Davis made the front end of one-and-one free throw with 2:32 remaining to make it 53-52.
Uncharacteristically, Duke imploded in the final two minutes.
McRoberts stepped on the baseline with 1:42 to go while trying to make a turn with Thomas on his hip.
Thomas broke Duke’s press at midcourt and found a clear path for a dunk with 34 seconds left.
“I just saw an open lane and I took it,” Thomas said.
In the last 25 seconds, LSU’s Davis grabbed two offensive rebounds off missed free throws – the second off his miss.
“Duke is a team that everybody wants to play for or play against,” Thomas said. “It feels good to beat them.”
Staff writer Tom Kensler can be reached at 303-820-5456 or tkensler@denverpost.com.
