Riding high after the thrilling win over Vanderbilt the Florida Gators (13-5, 4-1 SEC) will look to keep their momentum rolling as they take on the LSU Tigers (13-5, 1-4 SEC). Currently the Gators are tied at the top of the SEC standings alongside Texas A&M who has had an impressive start to league play after struggling in November, and they have every opportunity to take a regular season crown so long as they take care of business against teams like LSU. The Tigers are currently 14th in the SEC and have started to spiral, so they will be a desperate team on Tuesday.
The Tigers are in year four of the Matt McMahon era, an era that is in some way tied to the Gators and Todd Golden.
Let’s go back to March 17, 2022. It’s the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, and San Francisco is set to take on Murray State. San Francisco was coached by Todd Golden, with Murray State coached by Matt McMahon. Both were considered to be top candidates for any top opening, and the Gators reportedly had interest in both. McMahon and Murray State were victorious, and Florida was able to almost instantly interview, and ultimately hire, Golden. McMahon, who some considered a better candidate, ended up at LSU just a few days later.
Florida went on to win a National Championship with Golden, but things haven’t gone quite as well for McMahon. His first year in Baton Rouge was a disaster as the Tigers went 2-16 in SEC play, and while they bounced back in year two to be competitive–last season they stumbled again going 3-15 in the mighty SEC. This year there was some chatter about McMahon being on the hot seat, and that seat went from warm to flaming hot when LSU’s athletic director mentioned that if LSU didn’t make the NCAA Tournament he was going to have to re-evaluate the head coaching position. Needless to say, things have not been sunshine and rainbows in Baton Rouge and the Gators will be looking to pile on a team whose issues are mounting.
For a team that was already facing several problems, LSU was dealt some horrible injury luck. First, Jalen Reed (a familiar name as he was committed to Florida under Mike White but decommitted at the coaching change) was lost for the season. Next, Dedan Thomas (another familiar name as a player the Gators both recruited out of high school and out of the transfer portal from UNLV) got hurt, and the Tigers are 1-4 in games without him. Thomas was averaging 16.2 points and 7.1 assists per game as the engine behind their offense, and losing him alongside the kind of rangy athlete you need in the SEC like Reed has devastated the roster.
Most teams are not built to withstand an injury to their best player, and certainly not built to withstand an injury to both a star and a key athletic starter–so LSU has found themselves in a tough spot. However, they did just have arguably their best game of the season against Missouri, beating the team that handed the Gators their only SEC loss by a score of 78-70.
Offensively the Tigers have played well, though their production certainly took a hit when they lost Dedan Thomas. They will move the ball and play freely, and even though they are missing their most electric creator they have still found open looks, particularly for Portland transfer Max Mackinnon who has taken on some of the offensive load from Thomas, hitting 43% of his threes to keep the defense honest.
LSU has a couple of bigger bodies in the frontcourt that bring the muscle, starting with 6’10”, 260 pound Michael Nwoko. Nwoko has been at Miami and then Mississippi State as someone who clearly has high-major size and athleticism, though he had struggled to make any impact offensively. At LSU he looks to be finally unlocked, capable of finishing around the rim and making some solid reads on his way to 13.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Joining Nwoko is Omaha transfer Marquel Sutton, a below the rim banger at 6’9”, 225 that has averaged 13.8 points and 8.5 rebounds. Between Thomas (before injury), Nwoko, Mackinnon, and Sutton, coach McMahon has actually done a tremendous job in the transfer portal–his returners just haven’t brought enough, and the injuries have been devastating.
Most of the Tigers’ issues have come on the defensive end where they seem to lack the speed and anticipation to be at the right place at the right time, and on many possessions it just seems like they are a half step slow to the spot at any given moment. They aren’t a disaster by any means, but they haven’t been impactful and have been easy to play against which has led to the kind of poor defensive performances their offense couldn’t make up for.
For a shorthanded LSU team, their game plan will be to pack the paint and dare the Gators to make shots, hoping it’s a cold shooting game for them. They’ll need to keep Nwoko and Sutton out of foul trouble while they remain physical with Florida’s bigs, and they’ll need to manufacture clean looks for Mackinnon from deep.
Florida and LSU will tip off Tuesday, January 20th at 7 PM ET and it will be televised on ESPN 2.