Preview: LSU Basketball Hosts No. 10 Kentucky Fighting to Stay in SEC Title Relevance
As LSU's downward spiral in the SEC standings continues to tumble after a third loss in four games Saturday, Will Wade and company will be facing possibly the hottest team in the conference on Tuesday. The No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats visit Baton Rouge as winners of eight of its last nine games and feature one of the more daunting front courts in the SEC.
The last two weeks has proven how much a season can turn, which is a statement that LSU (18-7, 9-3) can either take in a positive or negative light as it looks to stay in the three-headed race for a second straight conference title. The obvious positive is that in spite of its recent slide, the Tigers would be right back at the top of the SEC with a win over the Wildcats Tuesday night.
"We weren’t as good as probably the 10-game winning streak, and we’re not as bad as we look now," Wade said. "I would say it’s somewhere in between. We’re not playing well now, but we’re not just terrible."
That's much easier said than done as Kentucky has been elite defensively during its recent stretch, led by point guard Ashton Hagans, who's tied for second in the SEC with Skylar Mays in steals and Nick Richards, who is second in the league in blocks.
"Richards is probably the most improved player in the league," Wade said. "Offensively, he gets a lot of credit for his offensive numbers, but he’s as good as there is in the league at shielding in the paint and blocking shots. He’s a defensive menace.
"If we don’t go where we’re supposed to go tomorrow (on offense) Hagans will set the SEC steal record. He is going to come swipe the ball from us all over the court."
With the level of energy and performance Kentucky brings to the defensive side of the ball, spacing and ball movement will be of immense priority for the Tigers' offense.
Featuring a frontcourt that stands as tall as any with the 6-foot-11 Richards and 6-foot-10 EJ Montgomery, scoring in the paint will be no easy feat for LSU. The Tigers average 45 points per game from two point range, good for No. 3 in the country.
One way to combat the possibility of not scoring as efficiently on its twos will be by taking the ball into the trees and drawing as many fouls as possible. That's a strategy both teams have used to win games this season and could wind up using again as Kentucky and LSU rank No. 1 and No. 3 in the SEC in free throws made.
With both teams being so great at drawing those fouls, it'll mean the Tigers will need to be much more sound with their rotations to keep players like Darius Days out of foul trouble. Wade said Monday it's imperative that Days stays on the floor because of the many ways he can help the team, whether it's on the boards or through scoring.
Days turned in his best two game stretch of SEC play against No. 13 Auburn and Missouri but played just 14 minutes against Alabama due to foul trouble.
Wade said while some of his frequent foul issues are on Days to make better decisions, some of it also has to do with the defensive rotations he's put in.
"Some of them he has to avoid—things that are just not very smart, but some of them, I feel bad," Wade said. "I mean, his teammates put him in terrible spots. His first foul wasn’t his fault [against Alabama]. I mean, that was another guy’s drop and Days is trying to cover for the other guy, who is rarely everywhere he’s supposed to be defensively, and Days is trying to cover for him, and he fouls."
The magnitude of this game can't be overstated as a loss could prove to be the nail in LSU's hopes of a second straight SEC crown. Wade said he doesn't know what a win will do for the team and it's confidence moving forward but he has a pretty good idea of what a loss could do.
“We’re just in a little bit of a rut right here, and we’ve got to start playing better. If we don’t play much better than we did Saturday, it’s going to be a long night," Wade said. “I don’t know, we’ll see. If we lose, it may snowball the other way if we lose, so I mean we’ve got to find a way to win. It’s a winner’s world.”
