Johnson draws technical

• By GARY LANEY
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jan 12, 2009 - UPDATED: 6:28 a.m.

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The Tigers had just had a possession where they missed three inside shots, a lay-up by Quintin Thornton and two put-back attempts by Delwan Graham. At the time, there was a large foul disparity between the two teams — LSU wound up with 28 fouls to Alabama’s 14 — but Johnson would not say that he was frustrated by them.

“I am not really frustrated by that,” the coach said. “I am frustrated that we lost.”

LSU was 6-for-10 from the free throw line while the Crimson Tide was 23-for-35. Asked if he thought his team was aggressive enough, Johnson said “Yeah, yeah. Without looking at the game tape, we do everything inside-out. We are trying to throw the ball in or attacking the rim off the dribble.”

Johnson is a man-to-man defensive coach, but for four possessions in the second half as LSU cut into an Alabama lead, the Tigers went to a zone and kept Alabama scoreless during that stretch.

“I thought we got them out of their rhythm a little bit,” Johnson said. “I thought the zone was the best opportunity for us to get them out of a rhythm and get some stops. It worked out, then they starting splitting the zone and hitting some threes.”

LSU hasn’t won at Coleman Coliseum since the 2003-2004 season. Alabama leads the series 96-65. … The 10 rebounds picked up by Chris Johnson was the center’s third double-digit rebound game of the season and his second in the last four games. … The 17 turnovers committed by LSU were a season-high for the Tigers. Six of the turnovers came from point guard Bo Spencer, who scored 10 points in 39 minutes. … Guard Alex Farrer fouled out in just seven minutes for LSU. … LSU’s bench was held to two points and just four shot attempts. … The two teams will meet again Feb. 8 at Baton Rouge.