Tigers’ bubble hasn’t burst yet

Published 7:00 pm Wednesday, February 7, 2018

In contention thanks to RPI

Don’t look now. And it’s still a decided long shot.

But the LSU basketball team is sneaking up precariously close to “bubble” status for the NCAA Tournament.

Several projections mention the Tigers (13-9, 4-6 Southeastern Conference) as team that possibly bears watching, mostly on the strength of six wins over NCAA teams with top 50 rating percentage index ranking. Only one school, Villanova, has more and LSU is one of six with the six pack.

Baby steps, but head coach Will Wade said one has to start somewhere.

“From where we have come from to have us in this position now, this isn’t bad,” he said. “We have to take advantage of it moving forward, protect our home court and steal a few on the road if possible.”

Tonight would be a good place to start when the Tigers travel to play Florida (15-8, 6-4) in Gaineville.

It would probably take an effort like the Tigers had Saturday while hitting 15 (of 30) 3-pointers in a 94-86 victory over Arkansas.

Or maybe not.

“We are going to have to play a lot better than we did against Arkansas,” Wade said. “Our defense has to get a lot better.”

Four of LSU’s wins over top 50 RPI teams were from the sweeps of Arkansas and Texas A&M, the Tigers’ only conference victories.

“Too bad we can’t play them more,” Wade said. 

Instead, they’re finished with both, and their defense will have to get a lot better defensively over the final three weeks if the Tigers are to make any kind of sniff at postseason.

Florida is an up-tempo team averaging 78.5 points per game, but the Gators, the No. 2 3-point shooting team in the SEC, have had their ups and downs offensively. The Gators have lost two straight, including 68-50 to Alabama Saturday at home.

“But we are probably a pretty good remedy with the way we have been guarding lately,” Wade said. “They are tremendous from beyond the 3-point line. They have a bunch of guys that can shoot.”

So can LSU, on occasion. But Wade has no illusions that he can dial up 15 3-pointers on a whim on any given night.

He noted that in their last three games, the Tigers have given up 95 to Auburn and 84 to Tennessee, both losses, and were fortunate to have a hot shooting hand to beat the Razorbacks’ 86 points.

“That’s not going to get it,” Wade said. “That’s embarrassing. Flat-out embarrassing. Totally regressed from what we were doing earlier in the year.

“We do that stuff again (at Florida) it’s over. We are not going to have 15 3s to bail us out Wednesday at Florida. It’s not sustainable to cover up all the mistakes. It’s that simple.”