BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers, so close to a possible win on Wednesday at Florida, faces its third ranked team in the last four games when it takes on No. 11 South Carolina Saturday afternoon at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Gamecocks and Tigers will meet at just after 2:30 p.m. CT with the Voice of the Tigers Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady on the LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates (Guaranty Media flagship Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and televised on the SEC Network with Dave Neal and Jon Sundvold.
LSU is coming off a heartbreaking 82-80 decision in Gainesville against Florida on Tuesday. The Tigers rallied from 60-40 down with 15 minutes to play to tie the game at 78-78 with 1:33 to play, but couldn’t get a stop and then a tying goal in the closing seconds of the contest. LSU dropped an 82-80 decision to the Gators
Will Baker, who had double figures for the fifth consecutive game, and Jordan Wright led the Tigers in scoring with 16 points each, while Tyrell Ward and Jalen Cook each scored 12. The Tigers shot 50.9 percent from the field (28-of-55) with 11 three-pointers.
It was the ninth time the Tigers had double digit three-pointers this season, tying the school record for double digit three-point totals in a season.
“I thought our guys did a great job in the second half of flipping the script of the game,” Coach Matt McMahon said of the contest. “We were able to execute offensively. I think we shot over 60% from the floor and from three. That enabled us to draw up some defenses and change the look there on the other end. We couldn’t quite secure the defensive glass the way we needed to on some key possessions.
“I thought we left some points on the board there. In the first half of a game, when the opponent shoots 66% as they did, your margin for error on offense is nonexistent,” Coach McMahon said. “We had a couple of bad turnovers and missed some free throws in the first half, but credit to our players, they found a way to get back into the game and give ourselves a chance there at the end.”
Carolina is 21-4 and 9-3 in the league, half a game out of first place. The Gamecocks struggled at Auburn on Wednesday night, falling to Auburn, 101-61. Meechie Johnson had 22 points while Collin Murray-Boyles had 19. B. J. Mack added 14 points.
Lamont Paris is in his second season as the head coach at South Carolina.
The Tigers will return home to start a three-game home stand on Wednesday night, Feb. 21 against Kentucky (8 p.m. ESPN, LSU Sports Radio Network). LSU will also host Mississippi State (Feb. 24) and Georgia (Feb. 27) before hitting the road again. Tickets for those games are available at LSUTix.net.