CSNbbs

LSU (41) is now 7-2 after getting a road win last night at Texas Tech (121), 71-69. Their two losses are to UMass (20) on the road (92-90), and to Memphis (14) on a neutral court, 76-69.

LSU's best win is a 70-68 overtime victory over Butler (56) on a neutral court. They also beat St. Joseph's (82) on a neutral court, 82-65.

The team that recently upset UTEP (122), New Orleans (328), lost at LSU 81-54.

KenPom.com projects LSU into a tie for third in the SEC this season at 11-7, and 20-10 overall.

LSU is an 8-point favorite against UAB (88), 76-68.

Looks like we've got them right where we want them.

This is the best team we'll play all year. Mickey is scary good in the paint and they have multiple guys who can hit the 3. Let's get #10 in the house that Pistol built!

LSU has a lot of strengths, so let me begin with their weaknesses.

LSU's weaknesses:

Free throw shooting - 64.4%, which is 296th in the country. Not quite as bad as UNC's 59.6% (342nd), but close. UAB is making 71.6%, 108th.

Turnover % - 22.2% (326th). UAB is 19.1% (204th).

FTA/FGA - percent of free throw attempts to field goal attempts - 31.4% (322nd). If you are a poor free throw shooting team, you want to keep your free throw attempts down (I guess). But, they are FREE! UAB is at 43.2% (130th). UAB was closer to 50% early in the season.

Steals % - percent of offensive possessions you give up a steal - 9.5% (223rd). UAB is much worse at 11.0% (311th).

Those are the only glaring weaknesses I see so far.

They seem to be a solid team all around. This truly might be our toughest game all year. We can do it. We've played well in all of our games against bigger conference opponents, outside of the 2nd half against temple, and I'm looking forward to another good showing from the blazers.

LSU Players

#2 Johnny O'Bryant III (6-9 256 Jr) scores 14.6 pts/game and 8.6 rebounds/game. He scored 23 points against UMass and had 14 rebounds against Northwestern State.

#25 Jordan Mickey (6-8 220 Fr) hits for 13.9 points/game, 8.4 rebounds/game, and 3.6 blocks/game. He had 25 points against La Monroe. He has had 5 or more blocks in four games already.

#10 Andre Stringer (5-10 190 Sr) - 13.0 points/game, 2.9 assists/game, best free throw shooter at 85.7% (18-21).

#1 Anthony Hickey (5-11 182 Jr) - 10.2 points/game, 4.0 assists/game, and 2.6 steals/game.

Those four players have been getting the most playing minutes so far.

How's their bench?

pretty nice

(12-19-2013 08:18 PM)BlazintheATL Wrote: [ -> ]How's their bench?

Their other starter is Shavon Coleman (6-5 195 Sr). He has taken the third most 3-pointers (11-24 for 45.8%).

As far as bench minutes, their bench accounts for 29.9% of the minutes which is 213th in the country. UAB's bench accounts for 26.2% of the minutes, which is 294th.

Good stat. Thanks.

This game could get ugly for us. We'll have to play our best game just to have a chance at winning at the end.

Agree. Toughest game on the schedule, fur sure.

Stringer and Hickey are the two main 3-pointer threats. Stringer is 19-55 (34.5%) from behind the arc, while Hickey is 20-51 (39.2%). Again, Coleman is the third threat behind the arc and he is 11-24 (45.8%).

Jon Rothstein ‏@JonRothstein
Sleeper game of the weekend could be UAB at LSU. Blazers are really talented. Lead the nation in rebounding. Very good starting five.

Not saying we'll destroy LSU, but anyone that thinks we aren't a force to be reckoned with probably needs to think again.

(12-19-2013 08:35 PM)BlazeNBham Wrote: [ -> ]This game could get ugly for us. We'll have to play our best game just to have a chance at the end.

Confidence isn't a strong suit with these young group of posters.

(12-19-2013 08:40 PM)BlazintheATL Wrote: [ -> ]Agree. Toughest game on the schedule, fur sure.

Toughest road game maybe. UNC is definitely more talented than LSU.

(12-20-2013 06:46 PM)Blazer85 Wrote: [ -> ]Not saying we'll destroy LSU, but anyone that thinks we aren't a force to be reckoned with probably needs to think again.

Don't know if UAB is a force to be reckoned with, but this is a pretty good ball club that shouldn't be taken lightly.

(12-20-2013 07:20 PM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote: [ -> ]

(12-19-2013 08:35 PM)BlazeNBham Wrote: [ -> ]This game could get ugly for us. We'll have to play our best game just to have a chance at the end.

Confidence isn't a strong suit with these young group of posters.

LSU will have the best post men we will see all season(New mexico could argue that). Cant say the same about us for them. They've played Memphis and UMass.

LSU Strengths:

LSU plays very good defense. They are 14th in the nation in defending 2-point field goals. Opponents only average 41.1% from 2-point land. On the flip side, that make 53.5% (45th).

They are 23rd in effective field goal percent on defense, which factors in 3-point attempts as well. Conversely they are 80th in this department on offense. UAB is 32nd on defense, but you don't want to know the offense number.

LSU is also a top 50 team in blocks and steals.

UAB is taller overall because LSU has two speedsters at 5-10 and 5-11. Their 4 and 5 players are almost a foot taller than the 1 and 2 players.