LSU Fighting Tigers returns to face in state foe the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, out of Ruston, LA.

7:00 PM Friday November 16th, 2018, Pete Maravich Assembly Center SECN+

About the Matchup: Both the Tigers and the Bulldogs come into this matchup undefeated and with identical 3-0 records. There a lot of similarities and differences between these two teams which certainly makes it a much more interesting matchup than in years past. Both teams have already had impressive resume’ building non-conference wins, LSU beat Memphis 85-76, while Tech beat one of the nation’s premier “programs” in Wichita State in Wichita,KS 71-58. Both are led by young up and coming head coaches that are very disciplined and detail oriented guys. The last key similarity are for both programs a win in this game will definitely help in determining seeding in any postseason play. The differences really come down to style of play. Tech is in their 4th year under head coach Eric Konkol who has done a really good job reloading the program to when it was under Mike White. They play at a much slower pace than LSU does offensively, and there will probably be no pressing from Tech unless they are down big or down late. LSU looks to score and score with efficiency, and in doing so it’s defense feeds off of that with turnovers and steals. Tech on the other hand is the opposite, they like to play sound fundamental conservative defense to set up an offense that is both efficient, but deliberate and at a pace that helps there defense. Tech is the more experienced of the two, but that gives LSU a little bit of an advantage as it is harder to scout LSU right now because of that. No matter how the game shapes up these are two good head coaches that know each other, as Wade was an assistant at VCU while Konkol was an assistant at George Mason. Both are solid teams, that know what they want to do and the game should be very enjoyable to watch.

Stats:
LSU
Waters (SO) 12.7 PPG, 6.7 APG, 4.7 SPG
Mays (JR) 13.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 2.0 APG
Smart (FR) 12.0 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.0 APG
E. Williams (FR) 10.0 PPG, 8.3 RPG
Reid (FR) 19.0 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 1.0 BPG

Bench
Bigby-Williams (SR) 7.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.0 BPG
Taylor (JR) 6.7 PPG, 1.7 RPG
Days (FR) 9.0 PPG, 4.3 RPG
Edwards (SR) 1.3 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 1.0 APG

La Tech
Archibald 12.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG,
Duruji 10.3 PPG, 4.3 PPG
Christon 10.0 PPG, 3.7 RPG
Powell 8.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG
Jean 5.0, 3.7 RPG, 4.2 APG

Bench
Muhammad 11.0 PPG, 7.3 RPG
Pemberton 8.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG
Langston 5.7 PPG, 2.3 APG
Thomas 1.7 PPG, 1.0 RPG

If DaQuan Bracey can play, he is the best player on their team when healthy, and is a former C-USA Freshman of the Year, as well as their most explosive scorer and is a 15 PPG and 5-6 APG type of player. He has not played their last 2 official games but he is a big part of their team.

What the Stats Tell Us: LSU is the more athletic of the two teams as well as the better rebounding and shot-blocking of the two. But what Tech does as well as anyone in mid-major basketball is having their guards rebound down and bringing a team first approach to rebounding. LSU has been the best free throw shooting team in the SEC already at a scorching 82%, while Tech sits at only 66%. LSU has had 8 of their 9 guy in its rotation already reach double figures. Tech really only plays 8 guys when Bracey is sidelined. LSU has shot 33% from 3 thus far, and they have been a team of runs when it comes to shooting from behind the arch, they will make 4-5 in a row as a team then have cold spells. Tech only shoots 27% from behind the arch, however they have played on the road, and against teams that have played at slower paces than LSU has.

This post was edited on 11/15/18 at 2:16 pm