LSU Basketball With Unique Opportunity For Program in SEC Championship

Tigers must find answers, play with consistent energy to avoid third trouncing by Alabama

LSU basketball knows the magnitude of this moment. It's a position the program hasn't been a part of in nearly 30 years. With impressive wins over Ole Miss and top 10 Arkansas, the Tigers have an opportunity to win just the second SEC Championship of its history against Alabama. 

It's an opportunity that Will Wade and the LSU players don't take lightly and comes at a time where the purple and gold are playing some of their best basketball of the season.  

"It's going to be a good one. Like I say yesterday, bring your popcorn, it's going to be a great one. I feel like it's going to be one for the ages," forward Darius Days said. "It's going to be a heavyweight fight, punch to punch. We got to play great defense. I feel like it's going to be a shootout tomorrow. It's going to be a great game."

As part of LSU's four game win streak that extends back to the end of regular season play, the Tigers are doing the things that lead to postseason success. The "Big Four" that includes Days, Javonte Smart, Trendon Watford and Cam Thomas are all making those game changing, momentum swinging plays that are so crucial in postseason basketball.

They combined for 62 points against both Ole Miss and Arkansas while the team has seemingly taken great strides in finishing off tightly contested games. That can be most closely equated with locking in more consistently on defense down the stretch, an area that the Tigers have had problems with at times. 

LSU was able to go nearly 10 minutes without allowing a field goal in the second half of the win over Arkansas, something Will Wade says has to do with the pressure LSU's man-to-man defense finally started to apply. 

"I thought our conditioning was top-notch. You have to give Greg Goldin a ton of credit with our conditioning," Wade said. "I thought we were really, really fresh down the stretch, fresh defensively. We forced them to take a bunch of jump shots, which is certainly an advantage for us defensively.

"I think the man really struck. I think that was one of the best defensive halves we've played," Smart added. "We just got to control the boards and stuff. But I think the man-to-man defense we played tonight was very good. I think everybody on the team bought into guarding somebody. I think that's a big step for us."

The defensive effort will need to really be intensified against the No. 1 seeded Crimson Tide. Alabama is as good a shooting team the Tigers have played all year and absolutely torched the Tigers on offense in each of the previous two meetings. 

Though LSU was still fresh off celebrating the win over the Razorbacks, Wade admitted it could be a long night in terms of gameplanning against a team that's had LSU's number this season.

"Yeah, I mean, we've got to obviously do something quite a bit different than we've done the first two times," Wade said. "They've absolutely blasted us. We've got to change some things up and figure some things out. We'll work on some things and we'll put the best plan together we can as quick as we can."

It's opportunities like these that drove players like Smart and Days to the program in the first place. For the hometown product Smart, getting to hang an SEC championship banner with his name on it will make his three years in Baton Rouge well worth it. 

"It means a lot. This is what I came to LSU for. This is what I came to do. I like winning. I love winning. I think just the winning culture. I'm honored to be a part of this," Smart said. "We got many more games to go. Bringing the ship back home would mean a lot to all of us. I think that's the biggest thing, just bringing it back home, showing them we really good.

"It would be great. It's been a long time since we had an SEC championship," Days said. "Even not going home the first game, because I've been a part of that early part of my freshman and sophomore year here. It's great getting to the championship game. It feels really good."