We’re three games into the season for LSU men’s basketball, and it’s clear to most people how talented this team is. What’s not as clear is how difficult some of these games are, which make the performances all the more impressive.
LSU tallied an impressive 74-58 win over a talented Liberty team, in a game where the score doesn’t tell the full story. Down 52-47 with just over six minutes left in the game, LSU closed out the game on a 27-6 run, which allowed them to escape with a 16-point victory. Coming into the game, Head Coach Will Wade gave a lot of praise to Liberty, who was coming off its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. After the game, Wade talked about the significance of a win over a team like Liberty and the importance of scheduling these games.
“It’s a huge test. We knew that,” Wade said. “On Selection Sunday this will be one of our six or seven best wins.”
Liberty is neither the first nor the last tough matchup the Tigers have in non-conference play, as Wade put an emphasis on scheduling strong early in the season. A matchup with Texas State last week was the first of these games, which LSU won 84-59 despite trailing at halftime. Despite not making the tournament last season, Texas State finished the year 19-7 and returned almost its entire roster.
Each game so far this season has been a step up in competition, and that will continue as non-conference play continues. Over Thanksgiving Week, LSU will travel to Niceville, Florida, to play in the Emerald Coast Classic alongside Penn State, Oregon State and Wake Forest. LSU will start by playing Penn State and then either Oregon State or Wake Forest depending on how each game goes. All three teams are solid programs who will provide a good test to this LSU team.
A game against Georgia Tech in Atlanta is arguably the toughest game currently on LSU’s non-conference schedule. Georgia Tech won the ACC Tournament last season and playing them on the road will be a huge test for the Tigers just weeks before SEC play begins.
Outside of the bigger name teams like those, LSU has other tough non-conference games against talented mid-major schools specifically in Belmont, Ohio and Louisiana Tech. All three of these schools were near the top of their respective conferences last season, and Ohio even won a game in the NCAA Tournament.
These games will most likely be important for LSU come March when the selection committee is evaluating LSU’s resume. Apart from just scheduling tough, resume-building games, Wade also puts an emphasis on scheduling teams that play similarly to SEC teams that LSU faces later in the season.
“On top of playing certain types of teams, you want to play against different styles of play,” Wade said. “You have to play different styles of the play that you’ll see throughout the season and different styles of play that you can draw something on and we can work on some things in the non-conference that we’ll need in conference play.”
He talked about this when discussing LSU’s upcoming game against McNeese State, who Wade says plays a lot like Texas A&M and South Carolina.
“McNeese plays very similar to how [Texas] A&M and South Carolina play, especially defensively,” Wade said. “They have the big goalie in the back, they don’t let you get to the second side of the floor, they’re way up the line.”
This is an interesting idea, but one that makes a lot of sense and can be very beneficial later in the season. Being better prepared for a certain matchup is often the difference between winning and losing a game, and game planning for conference play with real opponents early in the season is an effective way of doing that.
