Yeah, sorry about skipping the Alabama game. It was for artistic reasons.
South Carolina is in the same boat as LSU- a solid team struggling to get notice. South Carolina's best win this year is against South Florida, probably with the tagline, "USF IS a Big East team, y'know".
This game could be a litmus test for the Tigers- win here, and we'll be alright. Lose close and we'll probably struggle. Lose big, and you just might want to cancel those reservations in Indianapolis.
South Carolina has the SEC's leading scorer (tiny Devan Downey, 19.5 ppg). They lead the SEC in steals and are second to Mississippi State in blocked shots. (interesting fact: MSU's Jarvis Varnado has more blocks per game than LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida and Tennessee do as teams.) South Carolina is also second to Tennessee in turnover margin. On the down side, South Carolina is last in the SEC in rebounding margin, and rebounds is actually something LSU does well, so let's hope that the Tigers can use rebounds to our advantage.
The roster isn't too impressive physically- not one player is over 6-9, and Devan Downey is 5-9 in sneakers. But the fact that they block so many shots, get so many steals and don't turn the ball over a lot is testament to having good hands. The fact that they're so good at stealing worries me- LSU is in the red and 10th in the SEC in turnover margin.
As for LSU, our goal is the same: grab rebounds and hope that Taz and Bo get hot.