| Lafayette Daily Advertiser
BATON ROUGE – It will be LSU against Alabama in the first place, and that is not football.
The Tigers defeated South Carolina 85-80 in basketball on Saturday night for their fourth consecutive victory, while Crimson Tide defeated Arkansas 90-59 to create a Southeast Conference clash between the first two teams.
LSU (10-2, 5-1 SEC) will host first place Alabama (11-3, 6-0 SEC) on Tuesday (8pm, ESPN2) at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
South Carolina assistant coach Bruce Shingler replaced coach Frank Martin, who was quarantined in Columbia after having a positive test for COVID-19.
Here are two results of LSU’s victory over South Carolina.
LSU lost by 8 with seven minutes remaining
South Carolina (3-3, 1-1) led 38-34 at the break and took a 72-64 lead seven minutes into the second half. But the Tigers had a 10-1 run in the next three minutes to take the lead 74-73 with 4:38 to play in a pair of free throws from striker Trendon Watford. That was only the second advantage of the game for the Tigers.
Watford, who scored 23 for the Tigers with seven rebounds and five assists, hit a tray for a 76-74 lead and two free throws with 3:06 to put the LSU ahead to stay 78-76.
Guard Cameron Thomas, who led the Tigers with 25 points, hit a jumper with one hand in traffic for an 82-76 lead with 47.7 to put the game out.
Javonte Smart added 15 points with five assists and made 4 out of 5 in the 3-point range in the second half. Striker Darius Days scored 11 points with nine rebounds.
Tigers will have to improve against Tide
LSU lost 11 points at 19-8 in the first half and was losing for the entire first half after the opening minutes before waking up in the second half.
The Tigers are unlikely to be able to take a half break against Alabama, who won their seventh consecutive victory on Saturday.
“If we play like that on Tuesday night, we will have a stopwatch,” said LSU coach Will Wade. “We have to play more consistently throughout the game. But I am happy with our recovery. You cannot complain about a SEC victory.”