LSU basketball: Will Wade’s Tigers looking more and more like team to beat in SEC

Will Wade’s LSU Tigers have a two-game lead in the SEC but can they hang on and deliver an SEC championship to Baton Rogue like their football counterparts?

The years the LSU basketball and football programs have been on the same tier in the world of sports have been few and far between.

A traditional football school, despite having featured star basketball players like Pete Maravich and Shaquille O’Neal, the stories and heroics coming out of LSU have mostly come courtesy of the gridiron. Football reigned supreme (perhaps, except for some baseball mixed in there) for the Tiger faithful.

Now, however, all of that is changing.

Despite Joe Burrow and Co.’s successes on the gridiron culminated in an undefeated national championship title last month, the focus is switching to the No. 18 LSU basketball team is the focus. Head Coach Will Wade’s Tigers are bringing the team back to national relevance after an impressive season last year overall.

They now find themselves with a two-game advantage on their in-conference foes and are looking to continue their successes and wind up with (at minimum) a regular-season conference title in the SEC. And with the SEC not exactly a powerhouse the No. 18 Tigers looking more and more like the team to beat.

Led by the dynamic, cold-blooded scorer, senior guard Skylar Mays, the Tigers have risen to once again exceed expectations. Mays is averaging 15.3 points per game to pair with 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists is crucial to Will Wade’s team in crunch time.

Mays combines with two other, potentially underrated members of his team to register over 30 minutes per game. Javonte Smart and Emmitt Williams also play crucial roles with Smart chipping in an almost 40 percent clip from three to pair with 4.5 assists per game and Williams averages 13.7 points and seven rebounds.

Darius Days’ work in the paint is perhaps what really keeps this Tigers team a threat, however, as the 6-foot-6 forward plays taller than his height, outrebounding the Tigers’ next-biggest threat in the paint in freshman forward Trendon Watford.

At a perfect 8-0 in SEC play thanks to a propensity to win tight games, the Tigers are two games ahead of their nearest competition with the Auburn Tigers lurking after knocking off the disappointing Kentucky Wildcats.

LSU has been absolutely stellar in tight games since the beginning of SEC play. After struggling early, the young Tigers won six straight games decided by fewer than five points before double-digit wins against Alabama and Ole Miss.

They’ve got a big chance to rise up the rankings with Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers hosting LSU on Saturday night. This will be a season-defining week for LSU basketball. If they are able to remain unblemished in SEC play, their next test will be when they host Kentucky on Feb. 18.

The title of being the SEC’s best basketball team is up for grabs in a way we haven’t seen in many years.

Kentucky is always the team to beat in the SEC. Auburn might be the new team to beat. But this year, it’s LSU who might be the best of the trio.

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