By Hunt Palmer
It’s a Saturday matinee for LSU and SMU in Frisco this weekend. The Tigers and Mustangs will tip at 3:00 from Comerica Center.
The game is part of a two-year agreement that will bring the Mustangs to New Orleans and the Smoothie King Center in 2025. For NET purposes, this will be neutral site game though SMU should have a bit of a partisan crowd in the 6,000 seat arena. LSU’s should be more pronounced next year in the Crescent City.
This marks LSU’s final swing against a Power 5 team in the non-conference. LSU is 2-0 versus the Big 12 having beating Kansas State and UCF. LSU split with Florida State and Pittsburgh from the ACC.
A win on Saturday very likely puts LSU at 11-1 entering SEC play which is about as good as you could have expected when the season tipped off.
SMU made a coaching change last spring, firing Rob Lanier after just two seasons. Lanier’s team won 20 games last year, a 10-win improvement over Year 1. However, with the program transitioning into the ACC, the SMU administration thought it best to go hire a big name. Ten days later they announced USC’s Andy Enfield as the program’s next head man. Enfield was at USC for 11 seasons and made five NCAA Tournaments. He made one Elite 8 and finished with a PAC-12 record of 106-100.
On paper, this SMU team is very, very good. The results haven’t been quite as impressive.
The Mustangs went to Butler (7-3) and lost an 81-70 game. Mississippi State came to Dallas and beat SMU 84-79. Wins over Washington State and Virginia are ok, but Washington State doesn’t have a Power 5 win, and Virginia lost Tony Bennett to retirement inside a month before the season started.
Still, this group is No. 21 in the country in offensive efficiency and No. 66 in the country in defensive efficiency. Both of those numbers are rock solid.
This would qualify as another really nice win should the Tigers be able to pull it off.
Pony Express
This game figures to be up and down. Matt McMahon said earlier this week that he wants his team to play even faster with Jalen Reed out of the picture. With Reed down, LSU doesn’t really have a low post scoring threat in the halfcourt. Transition allows the guards more space to operate. LSU was able to do that against Florida Gulf Coast, scoring 42 before halftime and 80 total on one of the slowest teams in America.
SMU ranks 15th in the country in points per game. They’re No. 79 in possession per game. LSU ranks No. 27.
Point guards Boopie Miller and Jordan Sears are both seniors with a ton of experience and lightening quicks. Expect both to lead an up-tempo attack.
Turkish Tower
You won’t miss Samet Yigitoglu on the floor. The 7-foot-2 Turkish freshman is a handful on the low block. He’s a true back-to-the-basket post who is averaging 11.6 points per game without attempting a three this year. SMU will feed the big man on the block and let him work. Yigitoglu is anything but quick. He plods and plods until he gets position to put the ball on the rim. LSU doesn’t really have a physical presence to match the 265 pounder. Daimion Collins is giving up 65 lbs. here, and Chest is far too short. Robert Miller and Derek Fountain may be called upon to help a little more here unless Collins’s athleticism proves enough to bother the SMU big man. He scored 12 points on a physical Mississippi State team. That part isn’t concerning. His 10 free throw attempts in that game are. LSU is not deep in the front court. Early foul trouble on Collins would be trouble.
Should LSU decide to double team the big freshman, Kario Oquendo (54%) has been really good from three hitting 8-of-11 over the last two games. Chuck Harris is shooting 43 percent from deep as well. Be careful leaving those two.
We’ll get a sense very early how LSU will handle Yigitoglu who shoots 64 percent from the floor.
Precious Possessions
LSU can’t expect to turn the ball over 18-21 times and win the game. SMU’s season high in turnovers is 14, and they generally live around 10. The Mustangs are No. 80 in turnovers per possessions. That’s solid in a 364 team division. LSU ranks 241st. Lose the turnover battle something like 19 to 9, and it’s unlikely LSU can keep up in this game. If the Tigers can play that straight up around 12, LSU should be right in it assuming shots fall at a reasonable clip.
LSU hasn’t had a load of weak spots early on. Turnovers have reared their ugly head. Sixteen against Kansas State. Seventeen against UCF. Fifteen against Pittsburgh.
The game will be broadcast on ESPNU and is part of the Compete 4 Cause Classic.
