It’s ironic that on the same weekend of the biggest game of the year and arguably the biggest game in the history of Louisiana, the LSU men’s and women’s basketball teams would be playing their biggest games of the season.
Today the No. 18 Lady Tigers head to Stegeman Coliseum to face No. 14 Georgia. The Lady Bulldogs are a perennial powerhouse in the Southeastern Conference and are coming off a loss to defending SEC champion Auburn. Auburn handed LSU its first loss of the season.
The Lady Tigers, who lost four of their last five games heading in to Sunday’s game against Alabama, came out of Tuscaloosa, Ala., with a 78-41 stomping of the Crimson Tide. The Lady Tigers were sharp behind senior guard Allison Hightower’s 29-point performance, and they seemed to shake off the recent funk in which they’d been.
Georgia will be the true test to see if the Lady Tigers are back on track.
While the ladies are in Athens, the LSU men will host No. 14 Tennessee. The Volunteers are fighting to win an SEC title, while the Tigers are searching for their first conference victory on national television.
If the Tigers are unable to secure their first win Thursday, it won’t get any easier as LSU hosts No. 4 Kentucky on Saturday in the PMAC.
The Wildcats feature a roster of talented freshmen, including point guard John Wall. Wall was the No. 1 overall recruit from the 2009 class.
Kentucky’s only loss this season came last week against South Carolina. South Carolina senior guard Devan Downey scored 30 points in the 68-62 victory.
The Wildcats rebounded with a victory against No. 20 Vanderbilt, but after the game Wall made some shocking comments about what his coach, John Calipari, told him after the game.
“I don’t know. He said I played awful,” Wall told the media after the Wildcats’ 85-72 victory at Vanderbilt. “I didn’t think I played that bad. I don’t know what to expect. He’s probably going to say I played bad today too so I don’t know. I just try not to listen to him and go out and play basketball and try and help my team win.”
Wall went on to say he hasn’t been having much fun in recent games.
Wall had 19 points in the matchup against South Carolina but only two assists and dropped a pass when he was cutting to the basket for an open layup that would have closed the Gamecocks’ lead.
Wall and Calipari have reportedly cleared the issue up, and if the way Kentucky dismantled Ole Miss on Tuesday is a sign of how they will play the rest of this season, then the Tigers will have their hands full.
Kentucky looked very sharp and very focused as they easily beat the Rebels, 85-75.
As if a rejuvenated and refocused Wildcats team isn’t enough of a challenge for the Tigers, LSU is retiring the jersey of former Tiger Rudy Macklin on Saturday.
Sunday starts off with a chance for the Lady Tigers to avenge their second conference loss of the season when they face Ole Miss.
Ole Miss senior guard Bianca Thomas scored 42 points to help the Rebels beat LSU in Oxford.
After the game, the Lady Tigers, like nearly everyone else in the state of Louisiana, will prepare to watch the Saints compete in their first-ever Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts.
But before the Super Bowl comes, the Tigers and Lady Tigers have some business to take care of. And that business is probably looming over them a little bit heavier than the Super Bowl.——
 
Amos Morale is a 22-year-old history major from Houston. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_AmosMorale3.