Gamethread: LSU vs. Southeastern, 7:00 P.M., SEC Network+

After splitting the opening two games of the Billiken Classic, a win Thursday over SIUE and a loss Saturday against St. Louis, the Tigers open up the PMAC for the 2020-2021 season against Southeastern.

After erupting for 94 points against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, the Tigers couldn’t quite maintain that same level of production against St. Louis, and lost 85-81. Like the football team, defense has been a sore spot through two games for LSU. Will Wade’s squad allowed 81 points in Thanksgiving’s win and that only worsened against the Billikens Saturday afternoon. It’s a small sample size of course, but through two games LSU’s two opponents have hit 23 of 51 threes and the Cougars and Billikens have both shot better than 50 percent from the floor.

While the defense has been suspect, the offense has been stellar. Freshman guard Cam Thomas has led LSU in scoring through two games, scoring 27 against SIU and 25 against St. Louis. His efforts earned him the conference’s freshman of the week honors.

The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ and broadcasted on the LSU Sports Radio Network where Chris Blair and John Brady will be on the call. Tipoff is set for 7:00.

LSU also announced its protocols for the basketball season on Friday. You can read it in its entirety here. The highlights is that capacity will be capped at 25 percent, distancing will be mandatory as will the wearing of masks inside the PMAC.