The #5 Tennessee Volunteers (24-2) will travel to Baton Rouge with an agenda of knocking off the hype of #13 LSU Tigers (21-5). The Volunteers just beat a tough SEC opponent in Vanderbilt and want to carry momentum into their next game. And the LSU Tigers have just been upset by the Florida Gators in overtime.
How Tennessee Can Win
Keep a tough defensive scheme going and move the ball around well. We can see after the Florida game that LSU struggles with defensive teams that have high assist rates. The Volunteers average 19.3 assists a game and hold their opponents to 67.4 points. This will be a hard challenge for the Tigers to overcome in terms of adjusting. Tennessee will need to stick to their roots for this one to win this game.
How LSU Can Win
Just score more than Tennessee and shoot every shot with purpose. After the Tigers last performance, I think it safe to say that the only way to beat a team like Tennessee is to push past the defense and try to outscore them. If LSU wants to stay in the category of hyped teams that can make a deep run in March, they better start knocking off some of their harder opponents. When they score, they are more than capable of being ranked as a high seed.
Players to Watch
Tennessee: G Jordan Bone is going to be the player to keep the Volunteers on pace tomorrow night. With an assist line sitting at 6.5 assists a game, Bone will need to center himself for success. Watch for Bone to play more of a helping role than a scoring leader.
LSU: The Tigers need G Tremont Waters to have a game of his life. Waters will need to score a lot and shoot a great deal of shots to keep up with the Volunteers. Watch out for Tremont Waters to either burn out in this game or get them to a win.
Score Prediction
I think we see what LSU is really made of tonight: a shallow and over-hyped team. Tennessee is too good of a team for LSU to knock off in this matchup. The Volunteers can win the March Madness tournament and the LSU Tigers have just gotten steam. I think we get a competitive matchup, but the Volunteers show why they are at the top. Tennessee 76, LSU 68
Photo Credits: https://www.nola.com/lsu/2016/02/lsu_ncaa_tournament_odds.html
