Tigers close non-conference with Southern Miss in Baton Rouge

By Hunt Palmer

LSU’s pre-conference slate didn’t allow for many big wins, but it offered landmines.

The Tigers have to clear one more on Monday before the SEC grind begins Saturday in College Station. Southern Miss makes the trip over from Hattiesburg to take on LSU.

The Golden Eagles are 7-6 on the season with a pair of close SEC defeats. They lost by four in overtime at South Carolina and by four to Ole Miss in Biloxi. Miami is the only other power conference opponent USM has played to this point, and the Hurricanes blasted them by 24 down in Coral Gables.

LSU has won three in a row. Last time out, Prairie View A&M put a scare into the Tigers with a blistering three-point display in the first half. Ultimately, the LSU offense produced enough to get the win, but it wasn’t pretty.

Tipoff is at 7:00 in the Maravich Center.

DO YOU

In these previews I often discuss LSU’s weaknesses I’d like to see improved game-to-game. I’ll highlight strengths of the opponent, too. In this instance, LSU needs to do what it does best — score.

The Tiger offense has overwhelmed lesser competition for two months. Finish.

LSU has put four players in double figures in each of the last three games and has accomplished that nine times this season. When LSU puts four in double figures under Matt McMahon, the Tigers are 30-0.

LSU is 11th in the country in offensive efficiency and shooting percentage.

Most of that is because Dedan Thomas Jr. (6.7 per game) is in the top 15 in the country in assists, and Mike Nwoko (71.2%) is in the top 20 in the country in shooting percentage.

Southern Miss is No. 200 in defensive efficiency. The Tiger offense should feast.

PACK IT IN

I didn’t look at the stat sheet for all 365 D1 teams, but I’m going to guess not many of them feature a top four in scoring that has combined to make seven threes on the season.

That’s the case for Southern Miss.

Only Southern Illinois gets a smaller percentage of its points from three-point range. Their top four scorers have made 53 threes total.

LSU has to cut off drivers and make Southern Miss shoot jump shots.

MATCHUPS MATTER

Southern Miss starts five players between 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-7.

That means Dedan Thomas Jr. is going to face some length. It also means there’s no one on the floor to deal with Mike Nwoko physically. Tylik Weeks is 6-foot-7 and 225 lbs. He’s giving up four inches and 40 lbs. to Nwoko on the block. Seven-footer Tegra Izay comes off the bench but only averages 11.6 minutes per game.

Every possession when LSU does not get Nwoko a touch is a wasted opportunity exploit an undersized group.

FIND A WAY

Ultimately, this is the last chance for LSU to suffer a really poor defeat.

Southern Miss is No. 177 in the NET. That’s not awful, but it would be the worst blemish on LSU’s non-conference record. A neutral site loss to No. 20 Texas Tech won’t hurt at all.

As important as it is for LSU to play well, the issue is just jumping this last landmine to maintain the margin for error LSU currently has in league play to finish with a resume worth of the NCAA Tournament.

A 12-1 Tiger team just needs to hover around .500 in SEC play to get a bid. You ding that with a home loss to a lower-level school.

On paper, Thomas should be able to win consistently off the bounce, and Nwoko should score 18-20 points. On the other side of the floor, the Golden Eagles should have a hard to knocking down threes which has been a bugaboo for the LSU defense.

Paper doesn’t matter on Monday night. Win the game by one point or 25 points and get to SEC play 12-1.