LSU men’s basketball is coming off a tough week, having now lost three games in a row, and is looking to get back on track going into the second half of conference play. The Tigers are most recently coming off a loss on the road against Tennessee
“I thought it was as poor as we’ve played all season,” Wade said.
This week, LSU will travel to Fort Worth on Saturday to take on TCU in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
Injury Update
Xavier Pinson missed his fourth game in a row last weekend against Tennessee and still appears to be on a day-to-day timeline with his knee injury. Wade listed him as doubtful to play against Texas A&M, but says that he has been working out and could play in a limited role. Darius Days is another player who has been battling injuries as he re-aggravated his ankle injury against Tennessee that he originally sustained in the game against Alabama. Wade said that Days will be a game time decision for the game against Texas A&M and said that there is a “50/50” chance that Days plays in the game.
Personnel Update
Despite some of the struggles, Wade had high praise for sophomore point guard Eric Gaines who has had the task of filling in for Pinson during his absence. Gaines has struggled with turnovers and adapting to the change in pace since taking over the starting job, but Wade believes he will only benefit from the experience.
“There’s no substitute for game experience,” Wade said when talking about Gaines in his new role. “It’s tough when you’re learning on the job.”
Wade talked about how Gaines’ struggles have mainly come from him just not being used to the kind of workload he’s had since becoming a starter. He said Gaines is best in short bursts and said that he can’t play at the pace he wants when he’s asked to play over 30 minutes per game.
“It’s like asking a middle reliever to start a game and go nine innings,” Wade said when talking about how Gaines is adjusting to his role.
In other personnel news, Wade also confirmed that Tari Eason will start in Days’ place if Days is unable to play.

 
Adjustments and Direction
Despite the recent losing skid, Wade still didn’t seem to have any concern over the direction of the team. It’s obvious that the team has not been at full strength for a couple weeks now, so a lot of the struggles can be attributed to that. However, until that point, adjustments will have to be made and Wade alluded to that after losing to Tennessee.
“The time is now to make some changes, so we’re going to make some changes going into Wednesday,” Wade said after the game.
Wade added that these changes would have to do with personnel and offensive play calling, but did not add any further clarification over what we might see differently, come Wednesday night. The general feeling from Wade is that this stretch will be beneficial and that the team will be even better at the end of the season because of it. LSU is undefeated this season when everyone is healthy and active, which takes a lot of the pressure off the team going into the final stretch of the season.