3 Names To Watch When LSU Hosts Texas A&M Basketball

The last weekend of the regular college basketball season features Texas A&M basketball traveling to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on LSU.

There are implications in this matchup regarding the SEC Tournament seeding, but none yet regarding the NCAA Tournament.

As it stands, the Aggies are fighting to stay on the bubble and avoid drawing a matchup in the last four in a category where they’ll have to play their way into the big dance. For the Tigers, it’s simply business as usual with one thing in mind. Taking it game by game, trying to get any win possible after being at a deficit over the last couple of months of conference play.

For LSU, it will be a matter of getting these three players going on both sides of the ball and figuring out how to make enough shots to stop A&M’s ferocious offense and defense.

Max Mackinnon, Guard

Leading the Tigers in minutes right now is Max Mackinnon, a player who has had to step up after several injuries have severely hurt the program over the last three months. Mackinnon is averaging 31.3 minutes per game and is constantly being asked a lot of him because of how the rest of the team is built.

Appearing in 29 games this season, the senior guard is averaging 15.1 points per game, along with 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. From the field, he is a 41.1 percent shooter, and from beyond the arc, he is one of the better shooters at 39.1 percent.

His best performance of the season was on the road against Ole Miss, where he tallied 34 points, making 11 of his 24 field goals. He was also 8 of 10 from the free-throw line in that matchup and will try to do his best to get A&M’s bigs in foul trouble so he can show why he is a 90.4 percent shooter from the line.

Mike Nwoko, Forward

The Toronto, Ontario, native is averaging 13.2 points per game and is one of the better rebounders LSU has this season, reeling in 5.5 per game. As a shooter, Nwoko is going 61.9 percent from the field and 75.2 percent from the charity stripe.

Throughout his 30 appearances this season, he has accumulated 21 games in double digits and will be trying to do that again against a physical Aggies’ defense that isn't afraid of applying pressure through its half-court and full-court press.

The 6-foot-10 star has had several notable performances, but his best came against New Orleans early in the season, when he registered 22 points in the win. His next-closest game to that was against South Carolina, where he shot 69.2 percent from the field and scored 21 points. He’ll try to replicate what he did in those two games and do better than he did the first time against A&M, when he also had 21 points.

Marquel Sutton, Forward

Last time the senior from Tulsa, Oklahoma, faced the Aggies, he scored only three points in the 75-72 loss. During that game, he was 0 of 4 from the field, with all three points coming from the free throw line.

At the charity stripe, the 6-foot-8 weapon is an 82.2 percent shooter and is not one to miss out on a chance to get to the line, where he can score easy buckets. His field goal percentage is 45.6 percent, and he hopes to improve those numbers heading into the SEC Tournament in Nashville.

Sutton has played in five games in which he scored 20 or more points, and those games were ones in which he heated up early and got help from his teammates to set him up for success. In the final home game that he’ll likely play in front of the Tigers’ fans, he’ll attempt to have another stellar day like the ones he’s had in the past.

Action between A&M and LSU begins at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 7, with the game televised on the SEC Network.