By Hunt Palmer
LSU hits the road to Athens for a late-night tip at Stegeman Coliseum against Georgia.
Both teams are reeling a little bit. LSU has lost four straight and is 1-7 in league play. Georgia has lost four of five and currently sits at 3-6 in the SEC.
Mike White is in Year 3 in Athens, and his Bulldogs haven’t yet turned a corner. After a pair of 6-12 SEC seasons, he’s at 15-30 in conference. That’s a little dicey.
LSU and Matt McMahon find themselves in a similar spot. Both teams really need a win.
Georgia prides itself on the defensive end. Offense has been clunky more often than not.
LSU has its demons with turnovers and rebounding. Tip is set for a 9:00 local start.
BRICK HOUSE
Don’t expect threes to be pouring in. Georgia is shooting 32 percent for the season from deep, and that number shrinks to 27 percent in league games. That’s worst in the SEC.
LSU ranks 318th in the country in three-point shooting for the season. That’s worst in the SEC, as well.
Both teams have shifted away from the three-point shot in recent games. LSU’s most effective offensive game was against Arkansas when the Tigers got to the foul line with a lot of consistency.
Georgia plays through freshman post Asa Newell who leads the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game. He’ll shoot an occasional three, but 75 percent of his shots are from two-point range.
CAM IN FOCUS
Cam Carter has to shoot more. He’s put up four threes in the last two games combined. At this point, I don’t even care if they’re good shots. Every time Dji Bailey or Derek Fountain takes a fairly open shot. It’s a worse look than Carter even with a reasonable contest. I’m not suggesting he needs to force up 11 threes in a game. But he’s got to get six to nine up somehow.
Every team is going to focus on taking Carter away, but LSU still needs to play through him more effectively. He’s clearly LSU’s best chance to score.
STOP THE BOUNCE
Georgia’s offensive identity is driving the ball. They don’t shoot the three well, and they rank No. 211 in the country in assists per game. It’s a drive to score offense, not drive to dish.
Blue Cain and Silas Demary are 6-foot-5 wings who do a lot of the attacking. Carter and Bailey will probably draw those assignments. That’s about as good as LSU has defensively.
Of course, stopping the ball hasn’t been a big problem. Getting the rebound after a miss has been a far greater concern.
Wednesday’s game is going to be broadcast on SEC Network. Dave Neal and Jon Sundvold will have the call.
