The LSU men’s basketball team has one last chance to earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament and cap off a turnaround season under first-year coach Will Wade.
Essentially, the Southeastern Conference Tournament will, decide the fate of the Tigers postseason placement.
LSU (17-13, 8-10 SEC) comes into the tournament as the 10th seed where it will face off against seventh seed Mississippi State on Thursday in St. Louis, Missouri. The two teams met in their final regular season game where the Tigers knocked off the Bulldogs 78-57 on Senior Night.
“What worked the first time isn’t going to work a second time,” Will Wade said. “Mississippi State is going to be ready to play. We were at home. It was senior night. Very emotional, charged atmosphere, so we are going to have to come out and ratchet it up another level.”
For the second year in a row, LSU and Mississippi State (21-10, 9-9 SEC) will face off in each of their first games of the tournament. Last season, State soundly beat LSU 79-52 in the opening round.The first round loss last season “sets a fire” in sophomore guard Skylar Mays.
“I just hope I can bring an energy to the guys and help them understand how important winning that first game is for us,” Mays said.
However, looking at the improvements the two teams have made in just one year, this time around could be a different story. LSU had finished the 2017 season losing 18 of its final 20 games and picked up only two wins in SEC play. This year, LSU won five of its last nine games.
Wade said the mentality he wants his team to focus on is to win the game that’s in front of them and block everything else out. He mentioned that preparing for a team for a second consecutive time gives the players some film on how they individually match up with a team.
“We are just putting everything we have into Mississippi State,” Wade said. “Put everything you have into winning that one, then figure it out the next day, and then if you are fortunate enough to win, you figure it out the next day.”
The Tigers would either have to win the SEC tournament or advance to the final for a birth to the NCAA tournament. While that’s the goal, Wade said the NIT is very much in their grasp and would love for his team to get an invitation.
“I just think from where we were last year to where we are now is a big improvement,” Wade said. “For us to continue to play in the postseason would be important. Our guys want to play. Our guys like being around each other. Our guys enjoy what is going on. It is my job as a head coach to, if they want to keep playing, make sure I do everything possible to keep playing.”
Mays knows firsthand what the atmosphere is like in the SEC tournament when not as many Tiger fans will be in St. Louis to support the club.
Playing at a neutral site away from Tiger fans will test the atmosphere and the energy of both teams.
“You definitely have to get your energy from the bench,” Mays said. “You kind of feel it’s your five guys against their five guys. I’d say a neutral game for us is a lot easier than a road game for us.”
For freshman forward Brandon Rachal, the experience of an SEC tournament game will be different but he has picked the brains of the older guys on the team for a sense of what is different about it from a regular season game.
“My coaches and teammates say the first game is the hardest to win,” Rachal said. “Some teams will go and roll off four games in a row, but they say it’s always harder in that first game. Anything can happen, especially in March.”
