BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers will look to take a step forward on Saturday when they travel to Columbia, South Carolina to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena.
The tip time has been moved up five hours to noon CT because of winter weather expected in the Columbia area on Saturday. The game will now be streamed on SECN+ with South Carolina’s broadcast team of David Weinstein and Stephen Clark. The game will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Guaranty Media flagship station Eagle 98.1 FM). Chris Blair and John Brady will have the call.
Both teams will be looking to recover from setbacks on Wednesday night as LSU lost to Mississippi State at home, 80-66, while South Carolina was falling to nationally-ranked Florida, 95-48.
This will be the second meeting between LSU and South Carolina as the teams met in the second league game on Jan. 6. South Carolina made 10-of-13 first-half three-pointers (76.9 percent) in the Gamecocks 78-68 win at the Maravich Center. It was the second game point guard DJ Thomas Jr., did not play because of his lower left leg injury.
Max Mackinnon led LSU with 15 points, while Pablo Tamba and PJ Carter had 10 points each. Jalen Reece had six assists in the point guard spot and Mike Nwoko pulled down 13 rebounds (7 offensive).
LSU shot just 38.7 percent while South Carolina finished at 57 percent from three-point range (12-of-21). LSU out rebounded South Carolina, 42-30, but the Tigers had a 14-6 deficit in turnovers.
LSU will be looking to get its three-point shooting in order after going 1-of-18 in the opening 20 minutes in the last two games combined. LSU was hurt by Mississippi State as the Bulldogs from distance made 7-of-14 in the first 20 minutes in building a big halftime advantage.
Against the Bulldogs, Mackinnon had 15 points to top LSU with Thomas (4 assists) and Rashad King each scoring 14 points. Tamba had 10 points, four blocks and three steals.
In the loss to Florida, Eli Ellis led the Gamecocks with 13 points, while Meechie Johnson had 10. South Carolina shot just 25.9 percent int eh game (15-of-58). Florida had 54 points in the paint to USC’s 20.
Johnson leads South Carolina in season scoring at 15.4 points, while Mike Sharavjamts is at 11.5 points. Elijah Strong is at 10.6 points and Ellis at 10.1
With Saturday’s game, LSU will reach the halfway point of the SEC schedule and will have a bye in the midweek before resuming play on Feb. 7 at home against Georgia (5 p.m.).
