• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Dec 2, 2008 - Page: 1C - UPDATED: 1:20 a.m.

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Think of the LSU men’s basketball schedule as a staircase, one that started with a series of easy-to-navigate short steps for a few weeks.

Now today arrives. The step when the Tigers tangle with Cal Stat Fullerton isn’t only considerably bigger and higher, it may require
LSU to figure out a way to advance the equivalent of two or three steps within the confines of 40 minutes.

The Tigers (5-0) and Titans (3-4) square off at 7 p.m. with Fox Sports Net carrying the game regionally in the South and West.

Fullerton is a step up in competition for LSU, which is off to its best start since 2003-04. The Titans were an NCAA tournament team last year after winning 10 of their last 11 games and charging through the Big West tournament. Wisconsin ended CSF’s run with a 71-56 triumph in the first round.

LSU coach Trent Johnson spent a year as an assistant with Fullerton coach Bob Burton at Utah in the mid 1980s. Burton sandwiched that season in Salt Lake City between seven- and 16-year tenures at West Valley Community College in the San Jose area.

One of Burton’s stars at West Valley was Tigers assistant Donny Guerinoni, who also played for Johnson at Nevada and has coached with him since then.

That intimate knowledge of Burton and his style are enough to make Johnson leery.

“They have a hell of a basketball coach and there’s a level of toughness to them that you appreciate,” Johnson said of the Titans.

“They’re not going to beat themselves. We are going to have to play well, take care of the ball and really get to the shooters.”

Especially the one key cog back from Fullerton’s late-season surge.

Senior guard Josh Akognon poured in a single-season school record 116 3-pointers last year and is off to a torrid start this year, leading the Titans with 24.4 points a game and 30 3s (in 83 attempts).

Akognon will trigger USF’s attack, which is similar to Troy in that the Titans will attack outside-in and try to loosen up LSU’s defense with solid perimeter shooting.

With that challenge lying ahead of his team, Johnson was fidgety to get his postseason news conference over with Sunday after the Tigers turned in their best performance of the season to dispatch of Troy 92-57.

LSU limited the Trojans to 33.3 percent shooting from 3-point range (8-of-24) and 34.4 percent overall (21-of-61).

That was of little consequence to Johnson, who had already planted the seeds of looking ahead with his players.

“We have to put (the Troy victory) behind us because of the caliber of perimeter players we’ll see Tuesday are level up,” Johnson said. “They are a tournament-tested team, a very good basketball team, a well-coached team and a team with a lot of toughness and quickness.”

What the Titans have to contend with is a veteran LSU team operating with offensive balance and putting a new level of emphasis on defense and rebounding.

Senior Marcus Thornton erupted for 32 points and also notched 25 two games before that. Those two games elevated Thornton to the top of the Tigers’ scoring chart with 15.8 points a game, but three others are averaging between 11-11.8 points a game and five more are producing 4.4-5.8 points an outing.

That spread-the-wealth mentality is key to Johnson’s scheme, but it hasn’t hurt to get Thornton revved up.

In his two high-output games, Thornton has knocked down 23 field goals in 40 attempts. With Thornton warmed up, the Tigers have topped 90 points twice.

“When Marcus gets going, we all know we need to get him the ball and so does Coach,” LSU point guard Bo Spencer. “When (Thornton) is feeling it, Coach tells him to attack.”

Which in Johnson-ese means anything positive — “attack the goal, shoot it, make a positive play,” according to Spencer.
Thornton’s favorite mode, of course, is to shoot. And why not? A year ago he averaged 19.6 points a game and pumped in 90 3-pointers.

Asked Sunday if shooting was still his favorite thing to do, Thornton grinned and said. “Yeah. But everybody here likes to shoot.”

Cal State Fullerton at LSU

WHEN: 7 p.m. today.

WHERE: Pete Maravich Assembly Center

RADIO: WYPY-FM, 100.7.

TV: FSN (Cox cable channel 38).

RECORDS: Cal State Fullerton 3-4, LSU 5-0.

LAST TIME OUT: LSU 92, Troy 57 Sunday; Cal State Fullerton 92, Charlotte 84 (OT) Sunday.

LAST MEETING/SERIES: First meeting.

TICKETS/PROMOTIONS: Available for $5 at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office and Online at www.lsusports.net.

UP NEXT: Grambling at LSU, 7 p.m. Dec. 13.

Probable lineups

CAL STATE FULLERTON

Starters

F Gerard Anderson      6-6       Jr.

F Papa Guise    6-8       Jr.

F Aaron Thompson      6-4       Jr.

G Josh Akognon           5-11     Sr.

G Jacques Streeter       6-0       Fr.

Key reserves

G Marcio Lassiter         6-2       Sr.

F Ray Miller     6-8       Jr.

G Ameer Shamsud-din 6-2       Fr.

LSU

Starters

F Tasmin Mitchell         6-7       Jr.

F Chris Johnson            6-11     Sr.

G Marcus Thornton      6-4       Sr.

G Garrett Temple         6-6       Sr.

G Bo Spencer 6-1       So.

Key reserves

G Terry Martin 6-6       Sr.

G Alex Farrer   6-5       Jr.

F Storm Warren           6-6       Fr.

Leaders

Cal State Fullerton — Akognon 24.4 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 40% FG (56-140), 36.1% 3-pt. FG (30-83), 85.3% FT (29-34); Anderson 12.6 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 10 steals, 6 blocked shots; Streeter 8.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 37 assists; Lassiter 8.8 ppg, 3 rpg.

LSU — Thornton 15.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 47% FG (31-66), 75% FT (9-12); Spencer 11.8 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 11 assists, 52.9% FG (18-34), 57.9% 3-pt. FG (11-19), 92.3% FT (12-13); Mitchell 11 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 52.4% FG (22-42), 91.7% FT (11-12); Johnson 11 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 16 blocked shots, 80% FT (20-25).

Of note

• LSU corralled 52 rebounds against Troy on Sunday, the Tigers’ second game of 50 or more. They have 40 or more rebounds in all five games and are averaging a plus-13.6 advantage on the backboards.

• The Titans come to Baton Rouge averaging 78.9 points a game. They have scored 75 or more in every game this season and 90 or more in each of their three victories. LSU is allowing 57 points a contest.

• Spencer is shooting better from 3-point range (11-of-19, 57.9 percent) than from inside the arc (7-of-15, 46.7 percent). Temple has hit 4-of-10 from inside the 3-point circle and 4-of-10 outside it.

• Akognon scored 98 points in four postseason games in March, including 31 against Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament. He has attempted 140 of CSF’s 426 field goals this season and 83 of the Titans’ 154 tries from 3-point territory. In two years at Washington State, Akognon faced LSU coach Trent Johnson’s Stanford teams five times, averaging 13.5 points as a starter in 2005-06.