Men’s Hoops Travels to Florida to take on Gators

Fresh off a convincing 77-54 win over Texas A&M in its SEC opener, the LSU men’s basketball team (6-1, 1-0) hits the road and takes on Florida in the O’Connell Center.

The last time we saw the Tigers, freshman two-guard Cam Thomas put on a show scoring a season-high 32 points against the Aggies Tuesday night. Florida played the following night and won its conference opener against Vanderbilt in Nashville, 91-72.

Thomas remains LSU’s leading scorer with 24 points a game. But LSU has a plethora of scoring options including Trendon Watford, 16 points a game, Darius Days, 15 points a game, and Javonte Smart, 13 points a game. It should be noted that LSU scored 77 points Tuesday and only got a combined six from Watford and Smart.

Florida has plenty of offensive firepower at their disposal as well. Tre Mann is the leading scorer with 14 points, while Scottie Lewis and Noah Locke are right behind him with 13 and 10 points respectively. Colin Castleton had a big night against Vanderbilt, scoring 23 points and hit 11 of 13 shots.

Saturday will be the first home game for Florida since Keyontae Johnson, the SEC’s preseason player of the year, collapsed on the court against Florida State on December 12. Johnson was diagnosed with a heart inflammation that may be linked to Johnson testing positive for COVID-19. Johnson is out for the remainder of the season, but will be on the sidelines with his teammates.

LSU and Florida have seen quite a lot of each other in recent years. The Tigers and Gators have played multiple times a year in four of the past six seasons, and the two are scheduled to meet in Baton Rouge on February 6.

LSU leads the all-time series against the Gators, but have historically struggled in the O’Connell Center. The last time LSU played in Florida, the Tigers had a miserable night and lost by 15.

Tipoff is scheduled for 1:00 P.M. and will be broadcasted on CBS.