5 things to know about the LSU Tigers

1. Backcourt duo

The Southeastern Conference is riddled with extremely talented backcourts this season and LSU has one of the top guard duos in their backcourt. The two starting guards combine for nearly 37 points per game, which would rank them the second highest scoring backcourt in the SEC. The Tigers are led by freshman two-guard Cameron Thomas and his 22 points per game, to go along with 2.7 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.1 steals, and 90.4% free throw shooting. Thomas leads the conference and is eighth in the country in point per game. He’s sixth in the country in total free throws made this season and shoots one of the best percentages in the country as well. The issue for Thomas at this point is that he turnovers it over nearly twice as often as he gets assists. He looks to score more than set up teammates when he has the ball in his hands.

At the point guard position is junior Ja’Vonte Smart, standing at 6’4″ and 205 pounds. Smart had 7 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds against the Cats last season, and he’s still improving for LSU. Currently, Smart averages 14.9 points, 4 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game. Smart has made the second most threes in the conference this season and ranks third in the conference, hitting his threes at a 46.4% clip. Thomas and Smart combine to take over 13 threes per game, so Kentucky’s perimeter defense will need to step up to slow them down.

2. Frontcourt duo

While the backcourt for LSU is a very talented duo, the two starting frontcourt players are just as solid. The biggest player in the starting lineup is arguably the best player on this LSU roster, 6’9″ – 240 pound Trendon Watford. Second on the team in both scoring and rebounding, Watford averages 18.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He also gives 3.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game, but leads the team with 3.1 turnovers per game. Watford is very efficient offensively, hitting over 50% of his 11 field goal attempts per game. He can score from all over the floor, hitting 38.5% from three and 75% from the free throw line this season.

Starting at the four position for Will Wade is junior Darius Days, who measures at 6’7″ and 245 pounds. Days leads the team and is third on the conference in rebounding at 8.2 per game, to go along with being the fourth double-digit scorer on the LSU roster at 12.9 points per game. Days also leads the team with 1.4 steals per game. Similar to Watford, Days is a bigger player in the lineup, but is comfortable playing on the perimeter, hitting 39% of his threes and 75% of his free throws. Over 50% of Days’ shots come from behind the three-point line, so Kentucky’s bigs will be drawn away from the rim a lot tonight.

3. All the steals

One thing you may have mentioned in my two points above is that all four players average over one steal per game. The Tigers actually have a total of seven players averaging over one steal per game at the moment. LSU ranks first in the SEC and eighth in the country at 9.5 steals per game. The Tigers force a steal on 12.5% of their defensive possession, which is 11th in the country. A team effort to take defensive risks and force steals is evident when playing against LSU, which fits Will Wade’s general persona, but that’s a story for another time.

Weirdly enough, despite being one of the best teams in the country as far as racking up steals, LSU does struggle in other defensive areas. LSU is 11th in the conference and 254th in the country at blocks per game. The Tigers also sit at 281st in the country at block percentage, blocking only 3.8% of the opponents shots. For comparison, Kentucky is one of the better shot blocking teams in the country, blocking 10.3%, good for 4th in the country. LSU ranks 123rd in opponent field goal percentage, and more specifically, they rank 266th in the country in opponent two-point field goal percentage. If Kentucky finally learns to not settle for tough twos, scoring at the rim could be an easy task.

4. All the points

On the flip side from LSU’s defensive numbers, their offensive numbers are what win them games. A middle of the road team as far as possessions per game go, the Tigers still manage to put up a lot of points. Will Wade’s squad scores 85.2 points per game, which ranks first in the Southeastern Conference, as well as tied for 5th in nation. LSU has gone over 90 points four times in 13 games this season, while having not scored less than 75 all year. To compare to Kentucky’s offensive woes, the Cats average just 67 points per game, have scored over 80 just once this season, and rank 13th in the conference, 258th in the country in scoring.

LSU ranks 10th in the country in offensive efficiency and the Tigers are a top-20 team in shooting percentage inside the three-point line. In conference play, scoring per game is a little lower than overall, at 82 points per game, but still a daunting number, especially for a Kentucky team that hasn’t shown they can score that many at all. John Calipari’s team has not scored in any game this season what LSU averages on a nightly basis over the entire season. The defensive effort from Kentucky will have to be a major focal point tonight if they want to slow the Tigers down.

5. Schedule so far

Will Wade has the Tigers playing well late into the season for the third year in a row. Sitting with an overall record of 10-3 on the season, LSU doesn’t have a bad loss so far this season. With where Kentucky sits right now, a loss tonight in Rupp Arena would be a bad loss for the Tigers, which hasn’t been the case for the last decade or so, dating back to the Billy G years in Lexington. In non-conference play, LSU went 5-1, with three games that were canceled due to Covid restrictions. Their non-conference schedule wasn’t much to write home about, with wins over SIU Edwardsville, SE Louisiana, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston State, and Nicholls. The lone non-conference loss came on the road to the Billikens of St. Louis, coached by Travis Ford and now ranked in the top 25.

When conference play started at the end of December, the Tigers continued to win the games they were supposed to win. LSU has knocked off Texas A&M, Georgia in OT, Ole Miss, Arkansas, and South Carolina for their five SEC wins. The Tigers do have two SEC losses, one coming by four points at Florida and the other came against No. 18 ranked Alabama this past Tuesday. While the loss to Alabama was a blowout, the Crimson Tide have been playing better than most teams in the country and had a record breaking night from the three-point line, so the point differential is not indicative of LSU’s true ability. One note for tonight’s game is that LSU has only played three road games all season, and the Tigers are 1-2 in those games. It could be why the spread opened so close for tonight’s game has now been bet in favor of Kentucky 1.5 point favorite.

Go Cats. Beat Tigers.

@BrettBibbinsKSR