Tigers meet Texas in Austin for first time in conference

By Hunt Palmer

For the second time in four days, LSU will tangle with UT.

The first step of the orange-themed UT two-step for the Tigers was Saturday when the Tennessee Volunteers handled LSU in Knoxville. Next up it’s the Texas Longhorns in Austin. Texas has won four straight SEC games. LSU has dropped three straight and will be without starting point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. the rest of the season.

On the positive side, Max Mackinnon was not listed on Monday night’s availability report, so the Aussie guard will be ready after missing Saturday’s game on Rocky Top.

It’s a late tipoff at the Moody Center, 8:00 p.m.

SWAIN EVENT

Sean Miller is in year one at Texas, and his best player from Xavier has transitioned nicely to the SEC. Dailyn Swain is averaging 20.4 points per game in league play to lead the way for Texas.

At 6-foot-8, Swain is highly skilled. He’s shooting 59 percent from the floor, 37 percent from deep and 83 percent from the charity stripe in conference games. At Kentucky, he dropped 29 points and followed that up with a 30-point effort at Auburn.

Marquel Sutton, Mike Nwoko and Pablo Tamba will all probably try their hand as slowing down the most potent Longhorn on Tuesday night.

READY REECE?

Matt McMahon suggested Jalen Reece “grew up” on Saturday night. The freshman played all 40 minutes in Knoxville and scored 15 points with four assists and a single turnover against a brutally trough Volunteer defense.

Texas’s defense is not nearly as stout. The Longhorns are No. 170 in defensive efficiency and No. 115 in field goal defense.

It’s Reece’s team now with Thomas’s return ruled out. Rashad King can help, but the youngster is going to get a chance to prove himself down the stretch. Grim as it sounds, every young player is playing for that next offseason deal. Reece is going to get more time than he would have if Thomas has stayed healthy. More performances like Saturday could mean big things for him.

FOUL LINE

LSU made a living at the free throw line for two months early in the season. Yes, much of those gaudy totals are thanks to overwhelming overmatched non-conference teams, but making them is not opponent dependent.

LSU was 17-27 (63%) against Arkansas and 13-19 (68%) at Tennessee. To have any chance at all moving forward, LSU needs to be better than 75 percent from the line. They’ve done that in six league games. Mackinnon’s return should help. He’s at 92 percent for the season.