LSU Tigers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks Prediction & Game Preview - 2/19/2022

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

Venue: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC

Where to watch: SEC Network

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Caesars: Check back later

LSU: 19-7 (7-6 SEC)

South Carolina: 15-10 (6-7 SEC)

LSU: won three straight

South Carolina: won two straight

The LSU tigers are in a very weird situation. They had a run where they had lost six of their last seven but have since responded with three straight wins. Clearly, something is happening and the fix is in.

OK maybe not entirely the fix is in, but it is weird to see LSU go on this weird rollercoaster that they've been on. The Tigers are 12-0 and have since fallen to 19-7 with a 7-6 record in SEC play. In that time, LSU has suffered losses to TCU, Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss.

Clearly, losses on the ledger would not look very good when trying to get into the NCAA tournament, but a strong finish to the season could possibly make that happen more than we thought there would be a couple of weeks ago.

LSU is coming off a 19 point victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in their last game Wednesday. Tari Eason led the way with 21 points in 23 minutes off the bench, while Brandon Murray and Darius Days had 15 points each. If this was the time to overcome a rough shooting night from Xavier Pinson, facing a six-win Georgia team would be the way to do it.

Pinson finished with 7 points on 3 of 10 shooting but did record 10 of the team’s 15 assists.

I was a firm believer in LSU all season. The way that they play defense, the way that their rotations stifled opposing offenses, I was enamored with LSU for the majority of this season. But it has appeared overtime that this group has found ways to struggle and has been figured out in a very quick period of time.

I don't believe that this is a long, lingering effect when it comes to the play of LSU but my confidence in them has certainly been adjusted over the last couple of weeks. And if they don't get it together soon, they could be finding themselves outside looking in for the NCAA tournament and that would be one of the bigger disappointments of this season.

If you told me three weeks ago that the South Carolina Gamecocks would actually be on par against LSU, I probably would have laughed in your face ran away maniacally, and did some version of the hoedown in my underwear.

You try imagining all of that and see if it actually would have paid off, but the truth of the matter is is that South Carolina suddenly is a more formidable opponent against LSU this time around than what we thought a few weeks ago.

Now to be clear South Carolina is not winning games that you would hope for them to win, but they are defeating the teams that they should be beating to put themselves in the middle of the pack of the SEC. The Gamecocks are coming off a 3 point victory in overtime against Ole Miss on the 15th.

But it wasn't like any other finish to the game. James Reese V Hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to give South Carolina the win. What was probably the most funniest about that shot was that Reese put it up as if there was less than a second to go and yet surprisingly enough he banked it in like it was no problem.

South Carolina won its 15th game of the season off that miraculous heave and you have to wonder with the game being it at home, does South Carolina have a chance against the struggling tigers? I'm not quite sure myself but it does provide some sort of interesting intrigue.

I'm probably going to hate myself for this considering how I should not even remotely come close to picking LSU because this has upset all over it. If this was the LSU team that won its first 12 games of the season and looked like the closest thing to knocking off the likes of Auburn and Kentucky, this would be a much more convincing argument. But I look at LSU and I keep thinking to myself that they're going to get things right before tournament season. And I honestly don't know why I even think this way but when it comes to college basketball, when I see a team that I think is gonna be really good, and they slip up for a number of games, I still come back to them thinking that they're going to change things. And that's about where I am with LSU at this point. So even though all the thoughts of going with the home teams sound like a good idea, give me LSU in the victory. LSU by 10

LSU is 8-2 ATS after allowing 30 points or less in the first half in consecutive games.

The under is 8-1 this season when LSU wins at home by 10 or more.

South Carolina is 1-6 ATS off consecutive road games.

PG: Xavier Pinson

SG: Brandon Murray

SF: Mwani Wilkinson

PF: Darius Days

C: Efton Reid

PG: Devin Carter

SG: James Reese V

SF: Erik Stevenson

PF: Keyshawn Bryant

C: Wildens Leveque

Points: Tari Eason -- 16.8

Rebounds: Darius Days -- 7.9

Assists: Xavier Pinson -- 4.3

Points: Erik Stevenson -- 11.3

Rebounds: Wildens Leveque -- 5.3

Assists: Jermaine Cousinard -- 2.9