BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team seeks its fourth consecutive victory when the Tigers host the South Carolina Gamecocks in the final game of the Southeast Conference on Saturday at 7:30 pm CT at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers are 9-2 overall and 4-1 in the SEC, while South Carolina, returning to play for the first time since January 6, is 3-2 and 1-0 in the league, one of the two unbeaten teams remaining in the League.
LSU is entering the game with victories over Georgia (94-92, OT), Ole Miss (75-61) and Arkansas (92-76). Especially in the last two victories, the Tigers jumped to strong offensive and defensive starts, opening an advantage of 18 points in the interval against the rebels and 20 points against the Razorbacks.
The game will be the last game of the night broadcast by the SEC Network with Mike Morgan and Mark Wise from their respective homes, while the game will be broadcast on LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates (flagship Guaranty Media Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) with “Voice of the Tigers” Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady on the call.
South Carolina last played on January 6, when AJ Lawson set a career record of 30 points for the Gamecocks in the 78-54 victory over Texas A&M. This will be Carolina’s third game since December 5, and due to the health and safety protocols of South Carolina coach COVID-19 Frank Martin, assistant coach Chuck Martin and Doug Edwards, who handles the development of student-athletes for the team, will not be present at Baton Rouge. Assistant coach Bruce Shingler will be the interim head coach for the game.
The Tigers had an 18-0 run at the start and basically held Arkansas after the Razorbacks quickly jumped to a 4-0 lead. LSU led by 31 in the first half on Wednesday, before going to the locker room, 51-31.
Trendon Watford (23-10) and Darius Dias (18-13) each had two doubles in the win over Arkansas with Watford scoring more than 20 for the second game in a row. All five entries were in two digits with Cameron Thomas scoring 17 against Razorbacks and point guard Javonte Smart had 13 points and five assists.
Freshman Mwani Wilkinson had his first double-digit game at the SEC with 11 points.
Thomas, who played 32 minutes after an ankle injury early in the game Ole Miss, continues to lead the team with 21.8 points per game. Watford has 18.3 points per game and 7.0 rebounds, while Smart has 15.2 points and 4.2 assists. The numbers for the days are 13.9 points per contest and 8.5 rebounds. While Thomas leads the league in points per game, Days is second in rebounds per game.
Lawson leads South Carolina with 17.8 points per game, while Jermaine Couisnard is at 14.0 points per game.
The Tigers conclude this three-game house on Tuesday night at 8 pm, when Alabama arrives at the Maravich Center.
Editor’s note: LSU version.