Will Wade took more heat on Tuesday.
LSU’s flight to Birmingham was grounded because of fog, and the Tigers were unable to get to SEC basketball’s media day. That sparked some unwarranted skepticism. Then Wade took questions via Zoom and had a testy exchange with a national columnist.
The Tigers head coach maintained his position from Lake Charles last week that LSU could welcome additional players into the fold for Wednesday night’s home exhibition with UCF.
That remains to be seen when the Tigers and Knights tip at 7:00 p.m. Admission to the game is free for everyone. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
DRIVE, DENT
I was surprised at how passively Donovan Dent played against McNeese. The former UCLA point guard was an excellent creator and distributor at UCLA a season ago. He made two field goals and dished out one assist in more than 39 minutes last week.
He’s got to get more involved.
Last year, he scored 13.7 points per game, second on the Bruins’ roster, and amassed 265 assists, better than 7.5 per game.
Those are elite numbers. Admittedly, LSU is without some of the key players Dent would like to get the ball to, but it was his passiveness off the bounce that surprised me.
That should change on Wednesday night.
BUCKETS FOR BASHIR
I don’t see Abdi Bashir Jr. shooting 1-for-10 from deep a second straight time. He’s a 40% 3-point shooter over three seasons, with a substantial sample size of 614 attempts.He’s a stellar shooter. He just wasn’t last week.
Look for one or two to go down early in the game for the senior wing. With extended minutes, he should knock down four or more threes.
RUZIC REPEAT
I was overly impressed with Michael Ruzic last week. He was the most physical player on the floor against McNeese.
I don’t know that he’ll grab 16 rebounds again, especially if Brice Dessert is one of the eligible additions for LSU. However, Ruzic showed against a really solid McNeese team that he can hold his own.
That doesn’t prove he can bang with Florida’s all-world frontcourt, but it’s certainly a start.
If Ruzic can get to double figures in rebounds again, it will validate his efforts from Lake Charles.
