No. 12 LSU Basketball Facing Second True Road Environment at Florida
Playing the Florida Gators (9-5, 0-2) on the road has been a difficult task for the Tigers (14-1, 2-1) in recent seasons. Dating back to the John Brady era, the purple and gold have lost 10 of the last 13 outings in Gainesville including three of four in the Will Wade era.
This time around won't be an easy feat either for the Tigers, despite an 0-2 start to conference play for Mike White's team. The Gators are coming off losses to Alabama at home and Auburn on the road, a game that was tightly contested until the final few minutes.
One of the keys with this Florida team is it turns over opponents at an extremely efficient rate on nearly 24% of their opposition's offensive possessions.
"Biggest keys are going to be one, we can't turn the ball over. We're gonna have to rebound the ball, they're top 25 in the country offensive rebounding. Then we're gonna have to guard them without fouling."
The Gators are led by senior big man Colin Castleton, who has been a thorn in LSU's side in recent matchups. A long, skilled big, Castleton is averaging 15.6 points a contest and 9.2 rebounds, which is second in the SEC.
Castleton is one of the elite big men in the conference and gave the Tigers fits a year ago with his length, rebounding and ability to get to the free throw line. This season, he's getting fouled on 60% of his offensive possessions, mainly because of his ability to attack the offensive glass.
One of the areas Wade said Florida will likely try to attack LSU will be in the switching that's molded into the DNA of this Tigers' defense and get Castleton in mismatches under the rim.
"He's the second leading rebounder in the league so he's a monster. He does a great job of wedging himself around the basket for offensive rebounds, he's got great skill, they're gonna try to take advantage of him vs our switching," Wade said. "We've got to be aware of that and limit him to one shot."
It'll be a big opportunity for freshman Efton Reid to have a bounce back game against a veteran big like Castleton. Reid has struggled with foul trouble in conference play, which Wade said hasn't all been his fault, but the Tigers definitely need him on the floor to match up with the Florida big man.
This team will be tested without the veteran presence of Xavier Pinson on the floor as well in what's really only the second true road environment this team has played in. As a result, guards Eric Gaines and Justice Williams will be taking on bigger roles, primarily as the lead ball handlers.
LSU is still in search of its first complete game on the season, with Wade seeing this group accomplish its goals in some areas but not all throughout the course of the game. Starting and finishing both halves and getting into a position where the team can win in a "six minute" game is just a little of what the focus will be Wednesday evening on the road in another hostile environment.
"We've yet to play a complete game," Wade said. "It's gonna take a complete game for us to win on the road and we haven't been able to accomplish that yet. That's at the top of the list because we haven't done that in a game in a long, long time. We've got to focus in on that and get better in those areas."
