LSU basketball vs. LA Tech tonight

Excited for this one. La Tech is a pretty good step up in competition from the first 2 teams we've played, albeit still a team we should somewhat easily handle (the line for reference is -30.5 LSU, which I think is too much personally). Think this is because we've blown out the first 2 teams easily when the spread was also close to that they think we should also cover 30+ on La Tech. I could see us only winning this one more like by 20-25 points, but another 30-40 point win also wouldnt be surprising either if things like FTs and 3 pointers start to drop at a much better rate. Kenpom projects an 86-64 LSU win just for reference in his model right now.

La Tech plays small at the big spots (6'7 240 at C and 6'6 210 at PF) so this game is REALLY not one for Dessert to play in. Wade said it best in his post game presser from TSU that these teams are awful matchups for Dessert playing so small and just a lot quicker than he can keep up with. I would expect with him saying this and LA Tech not playing anyone over 6'8 we dont see a ton of Dessert tonight, does he start Ruzic? Not sure, but it wouldnt surprise me if Ruzic played close to 30 min and Dessert 10 or less minutes even if Dessert starts once again. This is the smallest team up at the big spots we will have played so far this season.

La Tech's offense is really fun to watch in the sense everyone tends to get involved and they have a ton of assists on their baskets. 23/30 baskets were assisted against the DII team they just played and 19/28 against Kent State as well. It's not going to light the world on fire really but it's a capable team based offense. Their starting wing, PF and C really are their best players and all did well against Kent St.

Their defense is also very very scrappy. They held a DII opponent to just 17 points their last game, yes a DII opponent (And not a good one at all), but that's impressive no matter the opponent for 40 minutes of college basketball. You might look at the 75 Kent St scored and go well their defense wasnt good that game - Kent St took 74 shots to get 75 points. That is an awful efficiency rate and some good d being played by Kent St to have an opponent take almost as many shots as they get points. Against TSU for reference we scored 92 on 63 shots and we missed A LOT of 3's and FTs.

I know a lot of folks looking ahead to Gonzaga this weekend but this should be a good one to watch tonight. I expect Dessert to get much more run against Gonzaga and their 7 footers there.