Louisiana State @ South Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2019 ) South Carolina 67, Louisiana State 89

LSU heads to South Carolina on Saturday looking to end a two-game skid that has dropped the Tigers two games out of first place in the SEC standings, jeopardizing their shot at getting a double bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. The Tigers fell 79-76 on Tuesday against No. 10 Kentucky, three days after a six-point loss at Alabama, and coach Will Wade lamented his team’s recent cold shooting and defensive breakdowns.

“Hopefully there will be an improvement,” Wade told reporters after the Tigers gave up 50 second-half points against Kentucky while shooting 39.4 percent from the field. “If not, we’ll be playing home games in the NIT.” The Gamecocks have won six of their past eight contests to move within one game of LSU in the league standings, but look to bounce back after a late surge fell short in Wednesday’s 79-76 defeat at Mississippi State. South Carolina shot 4-for-17 from 3-point range and allowed Mississippi State to shoot 57.1 percent from the field in the second half. “We scrapped, and our players are not going to give in, but our fundamentals defensively were not good,” South Carolina coach Frank Martin told the media postgame.

TIME: 6 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT LSU (18-8, 9-4 SEC): Senior guard Skylar Mays led the Tigers with 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting against Kentucky, and the team’s leading scorer at 16.5 points per game enters the weekend shooting 50.2 percent from the field. Sophomore forward Darius Days recorded his eighth double-double of the season (second in the past three games) with 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Tigers had their third-worst shooting performance of the season against Kentucky while allowing 50 percent shooting from 3-point range.

ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA (16-10, 8-5): Senior forward Maik Kotsar scored 24 points against Mississippi State, one off his career high, on 11-for-17 shooting from the field with seven rebounds, but the rest of the Gamecocks starters combined to shoot just 12-for-33. Sophomore guard AJ Lawson leads South Carolina in scoring at 13.7 points and is shooting 35 percent from 3-point range, going 2-for-7 from long range Wednesday. But the Gamecocks committed 15 turnovers and 24 fouls Wednesday, and were outscored by 14 points at the free-throw line to lose for just the second time since Jan. 22.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Kotsar, who has reached double-figures scoring in seven consecutive games, sits 37 points shy of reaching 1,000 for his career.

2. Mays is averaging 23.5 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 57.7 percent from the field across his past four games.

3. LSU snapped a three-game losing streak to South Carolina with last season’s 89-67 victory.

PREDICTION: LSU 76, South Carolina 72