LSU Postseason Games

The Tigers got a boost when PG Derrick Taylor returned for the 1983-84 season after sitting out the previous season because of academic issues.

F Leonard Mitchell returned for his senior season as did guards Johnny Jones and John Tudor.
The most promising freshmen were forwards Nikita Wilson and Anthony Wilson.
The weakness of the team was lack of a strong post player.

The Tigers, #11 in the preseason rankings, won their first four games.

The biggest victory came at home against Washington, 51-48
The following week, Texas A&M fell at Houston 75-65 to vault LSU to #9.
A 100-91 home loss to #6 Houston preceded four more victories, including conference wins over Vanderbilt 73-66 and @Georgia 81-77.
Then #2 Kentucky came to Baton Rouge and upended the #9 Bengals 96-80.
That loss was followed by a road defeat at Tennessee, 70-69.

LSU was a streaky team the rest of the season.

Four wins in a row, all at home, to rise to #10.
Three losses in a row, all on the road, including a 90-79 setback at North Carolina.
Three straight wins, including two in overtime at home over Georgia and Tennessee.
The Tigers went 3-3 in their final six conference games.
Alabama edged the Bengals 72-70 in the first round of the SEC tournament.

The 18-10 Tigers earned their first NCAA bid in three years.

LSU was seeded #7 in the West Regional.
Their opening round opponent was #10 Dayton in Salt Lake City. The Flyers had the same record as the Tigers, 18-10.

Coach Dale Brown reflected on his team's season.

"We've never peaked at any time this season. We've tried to bring them along. This is one of those years where we were late coming. When a team doesn't come around the way you anticipate, I think that's my responsibility."
Tudor added: "We had a team meeting after Monday night's practice. Just the players. We had a few during the season, but this one was the most productive."
Coaches and players were buoyed by the recent practices. "I thought we were more crisp in our last two practices than we have been all year," said Brown. Tudor agreed. "If we practice the way we've been practicing, we can go a long way in the tournament. But if we run our offense like we did in the season - no sharpness, no quickness, guys standing around, too much one-on-one - then we'll have problems."
The Tigers led the SEC in steals and forced turnovers. Their aggressive, overplaying, man-to-man defense frequently ignited the offense.

On the other hand, Dayton's forte was offensive execution, thriving on crisp passes and accurate shooting from both the perimeter and the inside.

The last thing the Flyers wanted was for LSU to force them into an uptempo game, according to Coach Don Donoher, whose team had won 11 of their last 14 games.
"LSU has great athletes," he said. "They have the ability to get after you defensively and drive you out of your offense."
"We basically have a lineup of four guards and a forward. So we have to make hay with our offense. It really worries me because with their ability, they could do a number on us."
Brown: "We have to control the tempo. If we control the tempo, we're capable of beating anybody in the country."

Starting lineup

F Don Redden (Monroe): 6'6" sophomore, 9.7ppg
F Jerry Reynolds (Brooklyn NY): 6'8" sophomore, 14.4ppg
C Nikita Wilson (Leesville): 6'7" freshman, 5.8ppg
G John Tudor (Pineville): 6'6" senior, 8.6ppg
G Derrick Taylor (Baton Rouge): 6'0" sophomore, 13.4ppg

The game was nip-and-tuck the entire first half.

Dayton's 6'4" senior F Roosevelt "Velvet" Chapman scored 15 points in the first 20 minutes. The Tigers tried three different defenders on him - Jerry Reynolds, John Tudor, and Leonard Mitchell. "He was hard to guard," said Mitchell, "because he always kept moving to different places." Meanwhile, the Flyers' sagging man-to-man defense forced the Tigers to shoot from outside, which was not their forte.
Nevertheless, LSU left the floor at halftime with the game tied at 32.
Coach Donoher admitted, "I was scared at halftime. We knew if they started hitting from the outside, we couldn't hold them on the inside." But his fear was misplaced.

The contest stayed tight to start the second half.

Dayton's tallest player, 6'7" C Ed Young, picked up his fourth foul with 17:39 left. But sophomore Jeff Zern came on and played creditably the rest of the half.
With Dayton ahead 41-40, Chapman sank a corner jump shot over Tudor. After a Tiger miss, "Velvet" made a three-point play to extend the lead to 46-40 with 13:21 left.
LSU narrowed the gap to 46-43 before Chapman struck again. He sank two free throws after drawing Mitchell's fourth foul. Brown left Leonard on the floor, but that didn't last long. Chapman faked Mitchell into the air on the baseline and drew contact when he sank his shot with 10:38 left. The Tigers would never pull closer than six points the rest of the way.
The fundamentally-sound Flyers outrebounded the taller Tigers 39-34, holding LSU to a single offensive rebound the second half.
The Flyers stretched their lead at the free throw line, ending 24 of 32 for the game. They also matched their season's average of 49% from the field while LSU shot 41.8%. Dayton's biggest lead was 72-58 with 1:47 left.
FINAL SCORE: Dayton 74 LSU 66

Postgame

Coach Brown: "We did not deserve to win this game. I don't have an answer for this team. I wish I had it to sound more intelligent. We were too nice out there. We didn't have enough overachievers on this team, and we didn't have any solid leadership. This team never had any ups and downs."
Coach Donoher: "We scored on eight out of nine possessions at one point in the second half, and that was the back-breaker. LSU had one of those nights when they couldn't buy one."
Jerry Reynolds said, "Dayton really made it tough to go inside. It was open a few times, but we took outside shots and missed."
John Tudor: "They blocked out really well on the boards. They were the best fundamentals team we've seen this year."
Leonard Mitchell was puzzled by the Tigers' loss. "We had some bad breaks this year. It was like LSU was jinxed."
"We had too many social distractions this year," said a miffed Don Redden. "I don't understand it. I was so excited to be here, but some of the other guys weren't excited. We had a reason to come play here. Instead, we just went out and ran up and down the floor."

Derrick Taylor

Leonard Mitchell

John Tudor

Nikita Wilson

Anthony Wilson

Roosevelt Chapman scores.

Jerry Reynolds