By Hunt Palmer
Cam Carter’s heroics in Norman snapped a vicious seven game skid for LSU.
Next up is South Carolina who passed up seven straight losses two and half weeks ago. Lamont Paris’s team enters Tuesday’s tilt winless in 12 league games and 50 days.
Sure, some games have gotten away from the Gamecocks. Florida beat them by 21 on Saturday. Kentucky ran away by 23. Mississippi State hammed them by 35. But there have been heartbreakers, too.
Seven of their 12 SEC losses have come by five points or less.
This South Carolina group held its own in the non-conference. They beat Virginia Tech and Boston College away from Columbia. Then they knocked off Clemson who is currently 13-2 in the ACC. The league is just so relentless. Teams like the two that will duel in the Maravich Center Tuesday night have had trouble kicking losing streaks.
The Tigers should have received a shot of life from Carter and that win on Saturday. It doesn’t put LSU on any postseason bubble or erase the struggles of January, but at least the flight home is a little bit more fun.
Let’s be very honest, LSU may struggle to win another game after Tuesday. The rest of the league schedule is ranked, and three of them are in the top 10.
Tuesday night is a favorable matchup. The Tigers are 2.5 point favorites, and it’s at home.
DEPTH DOWN LOW
LSU’s front court is in bad shape. Obviously, Jalen Reed is out for the year, but now the available players are bange dup. Daimion Collins separated his shoulder for the second time on Saturday. He’s probably but gimpy. Corey Chest missed Saturday’s game with back spasms. And now Trey’Dez Green has left the team to focus on school.
Collins and Chest are likely to play, but how healthy are they? Can Robert Miller give the Tigers 25 good minutes?
South Carolina is not especially big, but Nick Pringle is an experienced five man who could give the freshman Miller some issues.
KEEP AWAY
Quietly LSU has drastically cut down on turnovers over the last week. LSU has turned the ball over exactly nine times in each of the last three games. Prior to that, LSU had double digit turnovers in every league game and averaged 14 per game over that stretch.
It should come as no surprise that with those reduced turnovers that the Tigers had a chance to beat Ole Miss and did topple Oklahoma.
South Carolina is the worst team in the SEC in terms of taking the ball away. They rank No. 242 nationally in turnovers forced per possession.
Jordan Sears only played 10 minutes on Saturday. Curtis Givens is taking some of those minutes. Whoever is running the show for LSU needs to help keep those turnovers right around 10. If LSU does, the Tigers will win the game.
SLOW AND FREE THROW
South Carolina is a bad offense. The Gamecocks rank No. 250 in offensive efficiency. They play slowly, ranking No. 242 in pace. They don’t rebound very well on offense, just No. 168.
There is one strength LSU must guard against, and it’s the free throw line. South Carolina is top 20 in the country in free throws attempted per game.
Pringle, Jamarii Thomas and Collin Murray-Boyles have all attempted 115-plus free throws on the season. For perspective, Carter has only attempted 100.
That being said, South Carolina doesn’t make enough of their free throws when they get to the line. The Gamecocks ranked No. 260 in free throw percentage at just 69.5 percent.
LSU’s field goal defense has been good all season, and it stands to reason the Tigers should be able to bother South Carolina’s set offense. It’ll be about making sure the Gamecocks don’t pour in 20-plus points from the free throw line.
(Photo Credit: @LSUbaseball on X)
