LSU (13-8,4-6) @ South Carolina (12-11,2-8) - THURS 6:00 - ESPN2

Who: LSU Tigers (13-8,4-6) @ South Carolina Gamecocks (12-11,2-8)
When: Thursday, Feb 14th - 6:00pm
Where: Columbia, South Carolina - Colonial Life Arena (18,000, 15th NCAA)
How:
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 98.1FM, 199XM, 93Sirius
Stream: ESPN3.com



LSU has their second go at SEC bottom dweller South Carolina on a Valentines Day matchup. Earlier in the year, these two couldn't decide a winner in regulation as South Carolinas Michael Carrera was able to push the Gamecocks ahead with 23 points on the night. LSU's Anthony Hickey scored 18 but the Tigers weren't able to get it going in overtime after losing Johnny O'Bryant to a foul out. LSU struggled to hold onto the ball and had 21 turnovers that night.

LSU goes to Columbia winners of three of their last four contests. South Carolina has lost their last four, two of which were at home. This is definitely a winnable game for LSU and a road win that is much needed for the Tigers. After his 22 point performance against Alabama, Johnny O'Bryant is now tied with the SEC lead of nine double-doubles on the season. He has completed the feat in 6 of his last 7 ballgames and will need to continue to have success against an undersized Gamecock team.



There will be times where South Carolina's tallest player will be 6'5". You know that Johnny O'Bryant will be the centerpiece to the offense in those situations. He started his turnaround at Georgia, the game following these two teams first meeting, where he scored 16 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Since then he has gone to the hole stronger and has helped LSU move their way up the SEC standings.

LSU will need to put a lot of pressure on the Gamecocks. They are 300+ in turnovers and opponents steals so LSU has an opportunity to take advantage of South Carolina's carelessness. The Tigers need to keep South Carolina off the boards and try to take advantage of their size. LSU was able to win the rebounding battle last go around 37-33 but lost their edge due to a -7 turnover margin.



Anthony Hickey and Charles Carmouche have started a see-saw contest atop the LSU SoS leaderboard, with Hickey just taking the lead back after LSU's loss at Alabama. Carrera, who scored 23 points on only 10 shots last go-around, leads the South Carolina squad with a 45.73 Adj SoS. Laimonas Chatkevicius did not play against Tennessee, but no report of why was issued. The Gamecocks lost LaShay Page due to academic ineligibility for the year.



LSU needs to regroup and get the road win after a three point loss at Alabama, where the Tigers had two opportunities to tie the game with under ten seconds left. Tuesday night, Alabama beat Georgia and Florida beat Kentucky bringing LSU closer to the top 6. Sixth place gets a first round bye and is guaranteed to play a bottom four team in the second round. Auburn could do LSU a favor in beating Arkansas on Wednesday, and Texas A&M faces Ole Miss in a game that could prove to shake up the standings.

LSU could pull within 1 game of sixth place with a win and could possibly pull within 2 games of 4th if Texas A&M beats Ole Miss at home. LSU is still setup nicely to make a possible run in the SEC tournament if they can finish the year strong. A 5-3 finish would leave them at 9-9 and give them a fighting chance at the 6th seed (more likely 7th seed). At this point getting to sixth is a reasonable goal for the team.

Prediction:
LSU 68, South Carolina 64