Louisiana State @ Florida preview
Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center
Last Meeting ( Feb 26, 2020 ) Louisiana State 66, Florida 81
LSU and Florida rode strong offensive performances to victory in their SEC openers.
Now they'll go head-to-head on Saturday in Gainesville, Fla.
Cameron Thomas scored a season-high 32 points and Darius Days had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Tigers to a 77-54 home victory against Texas A&M on Tuesday. LSU improved to 6-1 overall.
Thomas had five 3-pointers among his 12 field goals to extend his streak of career-opening games of 15-plus points to seven, the longest such streak by an SEC player in the past 25 seasons, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
"He's as consistent of a worker as I've ever seen as a freshman," LSU coach Will Wade said. "He's never late; he shows up every day. He shoots Sunday through Friday, every day, 9 a.m., for an hour and 15 minutes, and gets his work in."
The Tigers used a 17-2 run to help build a 41-27 halftime lead and led by as many as 26 points in the second half against the Aggies.
"I am getting a better rhythm," Thomas said. "I've just been getting shots up on my own, so I feel like I'm in more of a rhythm now than I was the past few games."
Florida (4-1) made 61.8 percent of its shots from the field, including 72 percent in the second half, in a 91-72 victory against Vanderbilt on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn.
Colin Castleton scored a career-high 23 points, making 11 of 13 shots.
"Coach (Mike White) emphasized being efficient," Castleton said. "He talks about taking ‘A' shots, which are the best shots on the court, and not being selfish. We emphasized that and did a good job of that."
The Gators were playing their first game since Keyontae Johnson, the SEC Preseason Player of the Year, collapsed on the court during an 83-71 loss at Florida State on Dec. 12.
Johnson, diagnosed with heart inflammation, was in the hospital for 10 days, but he's recovering and visited practice Sunday and visited remotely with the team pre-game on Wednesday.
Florida also has had games canceled and postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Overall, our guys showed a ton of heart," White said. "I don't know of another situation in college basketball where a team has dealt with the kind of stuff our team has."
--Field Level Media