LSU Basketball Faces Physical, Elite Rebounding Team in South Carolina

After a nice two game home stand, LSU jumps back into the deep end and faces another physical, stout defensive team in South Carolina on Saturday.

The Gamecocks and Tigers are in that bundle of teams in need of conference wins with aspirations of climbing into the top four of the SEC not completely out of the realm of possibility. There are challenges this Frank Martin led squad present to the purple and gold, in one area in particular that has been a weakness for this Tigers team at times.

Wade mentioned that in order for the Tigers to walk out of Columbia with a win, the team must value the ball and grab defensive rebounds. South Carolina is one of the elite offensive rebounding teams in the country, averaging close to 14 offensive boards a contest.

The goal is to hold limit those offensive rebounds on less than 37% of the Gamecocks missed shots.

"They're a physical team, very good defensively. They're gonna try to bludgeon us down low with physicality. We'll have a huge challenge at grabbing a defensive rebound," Wade said. "Can we value the ball on the road and keep our turnovers down. We're getting ready to play an elite offensive rebounding team."

It means that the Tigers forwards and bigs like Darius Days, Tari Eason, Efton Reid, Shareef O'Neal and Alex Fudge will need to be aggressive and stay out of foul trouble. Wade went 10 deep with his rotations against Georgia on Wednesday, something that has its benefits when going head-to-head with another physical team like South Carolina.

Wade has really stuck to an eight man rotation for most of the season but with some guys starting to come around and proving more deserving of minutes, going a little deeper on the bench could be a good thing for the program.

"We gotta find eight or nine of them that are ready to play every night so it just increases your ping pong balls," Wade said. "We played 10 the other night because of some foul trouble, it's not always going to be that way but it gives us an increase. Some games are better for guys than others. Going against a strong, physical South Carolina team Fudge makes more sense in some areas."

Eason in particular has been on an offensive tear for the Tigers, averaging 23 points per game over his last three contests while shooting over 58% from the field. During LSU's struggles this year, Wade challenged Eason to be a bit more aggressive in attacking the rim and finishing with both the left and right hand.

Wade has seen tremendous growth in recent weeks as LSU has not only got Xavier Pinson back, which has helped take some pressure off of Eason in the half court, but also through his offensive development.

"He's continuing to work, but the time in and starting to finish with his left. I felt like some of the ones he missed could've been and-ones but he's starting to finish a few more of those," Wade said. "He's continuing to play well, continuing to grow his game so he's been tremendous for us all season."

LSU is 7-6 in league play while South Carolina is right there at 6-7 so there's no need to tell Wade or anyone in the program how important this one is for the Tigers to stay within striking distance.

"Game to game. Everybody knows it's important," Wade said. "This is a huge game in terms of the standings and our guys are certainly aware of that. We haven't gone much bigger picture than that."