Auburn @ Louisiana State preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 27, 2018 ) Louisiana State 70, Auburn 95

No. 22 LSU hopes its top players continue to keep them within striking distance of No. 1 Tennessee when it hosts Auburn on Saturday in an SEC game. LSU remained in a tie for second in the conference with No. 5 Kentucky - one game behind the Volunteers - after Wednesday's 92-88 victory at No. 21 Mississippi State featured a combined 55 points from freshman forward Naz Reid and sophomore guard Tremont Waters with Reid scoring 25 of his career high-tying 29 in the second half and OT.

“Definitely, everybody was tired, but we just had to pull it out,” Reid told the media. “Me and Tre told the team that we were not coming out of here with a loss. So we pinned our ears back and won it.” It was a strong bounce-back effort for LSU, which had its 10-game overall and 18-game home winning streaks snapped with a 90-89 loss to Arkansas on Feb. 2. Auburn defeated Florida 76-62 on Tuesday for its third straight victory with an average of 61 points allowed in that span that left it one of four teams tied for fifth at 5-4 in the SEC. "That's been our main focus in practice - playing defense and just trying to grow in that area," Auburn senior forward Horace Spencer told reporters. "The offense takes care of itself. We can put 100 points on the board, no problem. It's just time to stop other teams from doing what they do."

TV: 2 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT AUBURN (16-6, 5-4 SEC): Junior center Austin Wiley (10.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 16.6 minutes) returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing five games with a leg injury but played only five minutes as coach Bruce Pearl told reporters he wants to keep "progressing him." Junior guard Jared Harper (15.2 points, team-high 6.3 assists) shrugged off an ankle injury against Florida while sophomore Chuma Okeke (10.5 points, club-most 6.4 rebounds) kept playing despite falling twice with one leaving him with a tender backside. Senior guard Bryce Brown is averaging 19.3 points in conference games, raising his team-best average to 17.0.

ABOUT LSU (18-4, 8-1): Waters (15.6 points, team-high 5.9 assists), Reid (13.9 points, club-best 6.0 rebounds) and junior guard Skylar Mays (13.1 points) are the top scorers with Waters and Mays also providing exceptional perimeter defense. Waters leads the SEC and was fourth nationally at 3.05 steals per game entering Friday while Mays was third in the conference at 2.0. Freshman guard Ja'vonte Smart is the other double-figure scorer at 10.5 points while freshman forward Emmitt Williams (8.0 points, 5.9 rebounds) provides support at both ends of the floor.

TIP-INS

1. Auburn forces 18.8 turnovers, which is fourth nationally, and scores 24.5 points per game off turnovers - up from 18.5 last season.

2. LSU has won at least 18 of its first 22 games for the 10th time in school history with the last occurrence coming in 2008-09 (18-4).

3. Auburn has won three straight in the series, including 95-70 last season with Brown and Harper combining for 26 points and 11 assists.

PREDICTION: LSU 84, Auburn 83