Tigers travel to take on defending champs

By Hunt Palmer

Last week was the biggest week in the Matt McMahon era. This might be the toughest.

LSU hits the road twice this week to take on the defending national champions in Florida and a top 20 Arkansas team in two of the toughest venues in the SEC. Pack a lunch.

LSU opens as a 15.5 point underdog in Gainesville on Tuesday night. The Gators are 8-0 at home this year and have won their two SEC home games convincingly. They smoked No. 18 Georgia 92-77 and took it to the No. 21 Tennessee Vols 91-67.

Todd Golden has things rolling at Florida. The Gators were college basketball’s best team a year ago and plan on being in that discussion again in March.

LSU played a solid game on Saturday again Missouri, but that will have to reach a new level Tuesday night if the Tigers want to hang with the Gators.

BOARD BATTLE

Florida dominates the glass. The Gators are second nationally in offensive rebounding and fourth in defensive rebounding.

That’s how you win possessions. Limit teams to one shot and get second and third look on your end.

Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh make up the best front court in college basketball. They’re all over 6-foot-9, and they are the top three scorers and rebounders for the Gators.

Mike Nwoko, Marquel Sutton and Robert Miller have to be at the top of their games, especially on the glass.

PACE MAKER

This will be the toughest environment this LSU team has played in. That generally the spot for the point guard to control his team’s pace. LSU won’t have theirs.

Florida is top 50 in pace this year and No. 22 in points per game. They want to run and get their crowd into the game. The more possessions played the more benefit to Florida. Rashad King and Jalen Reece have to keep things under control.

The death sentence for LSU in a spot like this is the 13-0 run. That often happens when you try to match Florida’s pace.

LSU will need to weather those storms and focus on getting good looks when Florida finds a little burst and the team starts to get into a rhythm.

MAX AND MARQUEL

In the biggest spots, the best players have to rise.

For LSU, that’s Max Mackinnon and Marquel Sutton. Without Thomas, they have to provide the offense. It’s pretty obvious that Nwoko needs Thomas, so he can’t be counted on for more than six or eight points. If LSU is going to stay in the game on Tuesday, Mackinnon and Sutton are going to each top 20.

They can. They did on Saturday.

Mackinnon has scored in double figures in every game since the Texas Tech loss, and he’s averaging 19.6 in league games. Sutton scored 26 on Saturday and 16 against Kentucky. He’s made five of his last eight threes and had some success putting the ball on the floor.

Tipoff from Gainesville is set for 6:00 on ESPN2. Baton Rouge listeners can find the game on the flagship home for LSU athletics, Eagle 98.1.