More of the same for LSU
Published 7:00 pm Wednesday, February 28, 2018
S. Carolina larger version of Georgia
LSU coach Will Wade greets forward Wayde Sims (44) as he returns to the bench during the team’s NCAA college basketball game against Texas A&M, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La.
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It’s probably not what LSU basketball needs right now.
But the schedule doesn’t make allowances. So the Tigers (16-12, 7-9 Southeastern Conference) are headed to South Carolina (15-14, 6-10) tonight anyway trying to break a six-game road losing streak.
On paper, it’s not a good matchup for a team coming off a 93-82 loss at Georgia where the Tigers trailed by as many as 21 points.
“We got physically whipped,” LSU head coach of Will Wade said of that game, which has been a common problem for his team on the road. “Physically annihilated over there.”
It won’t get any easier at South Carolina, where the Gamecocks are playing their last home game of the regular season.
“The scary part is that South Carolina has beaten Georgia twice. South Carolina has pretty much done the same thing to Georgia that Georgia did to us.
“We’ll have to really ramp it up (physically) to give ourselves a chance.”
Short of winning the SEC tournament next week, LSU lost any chance of reaching the NCAA Tournament with Saturday’s loss to Georgia.
Now the Tigers need a win either tonight or in the regular-season finale at home Saturday against Mississippi State for a chance to get a first-round bye in the SEC tournament.
LSU is in a three-way tie with Georgia and Texas A&M for eighth in the league, the last spot that gets bye.
Georgia and A&M play Saturday, so at least one of them will get to eight wins.
“It’s no secret we struggle with grind-it-out teams and South Carolina is certainly that,” Wade said. “If we can keep it manageable on the backboards and not get annihilated like we did Saturday, we would have a chance to win.”
