LSU Basketball Should Feel Confident it's Playing Best Ball of Season Ahead of March Madness
Heading into this week’s NCAA Tournament, the LSU Tigers have all the momentum shifting their way coming off a spectacular SEC Tournament run.
Sophomore forward Trendon Watford is coming off of his best game as a Tiger, dropping 30 points and 8 rebounds in a hard-fought battle against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Sunday’s SEC Tournament championship.
After being selected to the All-Tournament team, Cameron Thomas and Trendon Watford expect their outstanding play to translate to the big stage in the NCAA Tournament. The dynamic duo of Thomas and Watford was on full display all weekend long in Nashville, giving the Tigers the national recognition they deserve.
“We played great. I think that's the best we've looked all season. We're just trying to keep this momentum rolling going into March Madness. I truly feel like we're a Final Four team. When everybody is clicking, everybody is clicking,” said Watford.
The growth of Javonte Smart throughout the season has been a bright spot for the Tigers as his shot selection and vision were fully unveiled last weekend. Finishing with 21 points, 7 boards and 5 assists against the Crimson Tide, LSU fans have been able to see Smart’s hard work come to fruition as this is the type of play he is capable of giving night in and night out.
“He's just a warrior,” said Wade. “He's a tremendous, tremendous player. He stepped up in a big game for us. Proud of him. Proud he's our point guard.”
The play of Smart, Watford, Thomas and Darius Days reached peak performance to close out the season, giving the Tigers remarkable hope heading into this week’s NCAA Tournament. With LSU earning the No. 8 seed in this year’s March Madness, we will see the Tigers take on a defensive minded St. Bonaventure squad who finished 16-4 in a competitive A-10 conference.
Consistency in all aspects will need to be on display for the Tigers, who struggle to play all 40 minutes competitively, with many stagnant moments in each half. Coach Will Wade has preached to his team how imperative it will be for them to play all 40 minutes and wreak havoc on both ends of the floor, with defense at the forefront.
On the glass, LSU has struggled significantly, giving up countless offensive rebounds to their opponents. In order to advance deep into the tournament, the Tigers will have to limit second chance buckets and focus primarily on boxing out and winning the rebounding battle against their competitors.
Offense has not been an issue for this Tigers group as they can score at will with many weapons at their disposal, but in order to succeed in the tournament, defense will be the main message to this team.
With high expectations lingering on the Tigers, consistency will also be key in order to see Wade’s squad make a deep tournament run in this year’s March Madness.
"It's all coming along. All season we've been waiting to put it all together and we didn't play the way we wanted to all year," Smart said Wednesday. "Now's the time and I think all of the guys bought in to putting it all together and it's a great time to do it."
The No. 8 seed LSU Tigers will take on the ninth-seeded St. Bonaventure Bonnies in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, March 20th. LSU will enter the game as the slight favorite to advance to the second round with tipoff set for 1:45 p.m. ET on TNT.
