LSU’s men’s basketball team hosts its doppelganger when South Carolina comes to town tonight.Doppelganger can be defined as “a ghostly counterpart to a living person,” according to Dictionary.com. And the term fits well for the early going of the two teams’ seasons.The Tigers (12-3, 0-1) and Gamecocks (12-2, 1-0) fell on different ends of very similar games in the first weekend of Southeastern Conference play.The Tigers out-rebounded and out-shot Alabama from the field but managed only 10 free throws to the Crimson Tide’s 35 in a 65-59 loss.”We didn’t play through some things,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “We didn’t beat them at crucial times to loose balls or to rebounds. We didn’t come back to the ball in the air in crucial situations when we were in striking distance.”South Carolina defeated Auburn at home, 68-56, in a game in which it was out-rebounded, 41-34.South Carolina senior guard Zam Fredrick came to the      Gamecocks’ rescue, scoring 27 points and shooting 5-for-5 from the free-throw line in the win.”He did what you would hope fifth-year seniors are going to do — play with poise and aggressiveness and show a lot of leadership in a game where we didn’t get off to a real good start,” said South Carolina coach Darrin Horn. “He made some shots and created some baskets for us and did a good job getting to the foul line and knocked down those shots as well.”LSU will be hoping to show the same poise in front of its second home crowd of the new year. The Tigers have not played a home game since the Jan. 3 win against Southeastern Louisiana while the Gamecocks have not had to travel since their Jan. 2 upset of then-No. 20 Baylor.”I know the kids are excited about being back home,” Johnson said. “But our opponents — those are the ones we’re concerned about … For us to continue to get better and not take steps back, we need to treat home and road the same.”The Gamecocks will bring a more up-tempo style of play to Baton Rouge tonight. South Carolina boasts the SEC’s No. 3 scoring offense, averaging 81 points per game.But the Gamecocks’ defense hasn’t been as great, ranking eighth in the conference, allowing 65.3 points per game.On the other end of the spectrum, the Tigers’ offense is ranked No. 7 in the conference, while their scoring defense sits at No. 3, holding opponents to just 61.6 points per game.That defense will be tested early by the SEC’s third-leading scorer, South Carolina junior guard Devan Downey, who averages 19.7 points per game. The combination of Fredrick and Downey gives the Gamecocks two of the conferences top-10 scorers.It’s even possible Downey could serve as doppelganger to LSU senior guard Marcus Thornton. Thornton finished the last season as the SEC’s No. 2 scorer, averaging 19.6 points per game, while Downey finished third with 18.4. One year later, Downey sits at No. 3 with his 19.7 average while Thornton sits at No. 5, averaging 18.5.”Our transition ‘D’ is probably going to be tested unlike it’s been tested all year long, just because of their explosiveness,” Johnson said. “They basically play with five guards … We all know we need to bring our ‘A’ game and defend with a sense of urgency.”—-Contact David Helman at [email protected]