Preview: LSU looks to bounce back against Vanderbilt

LSU Basketball faces Vanderbilt on Saturday looking to bounce back after arguably its most disappointing loss of the season. The 5 p.m. matchup can be caught on the SEC Network.

The Tigers lost lost 76-72 to the Rebels Tuesday night in a game where LSU once trailed by 24 points. Despite the disappointment, Head Coach Will Wade and his players were adamant after the game that they were moving on and there was no need to panic.

“We’ve still got a good group, we’re going to find a way to dig some out down the stretch and we’re going to find a way to make this a good year,” Wade said following the loss.

Many fans may see this matchup with Vanderbilt as an easy bounce back game, but that will be far from the case, despite Vanderbilt’s poor record. LSU Basketball has yet to win at Vanderbilt during Wade’s tenure as Head Coach. The Commodores have proven to be a tough out for many teams this season. Just earlier this week, Vanderbilt went on the road and gave No. 5 Kentucky plenty of trouble, only losing by seven points. Vanderbilt had a similar close loss against Tennessee and started conference play with a one-point win over Arkansas, which now sits third in the conference.

Scotty Pippen, Jr. starring for Commodores

Junior guard Scotty Pippen Jr., who leads the SEC in scoring averaging at 19.3 points per game, leads Vanderbilt. Pippen was a SEC Preseason All-Conference First Team choices and is one of the best players in the entire conference. Pippen will not be the only scoring threat.

Junior forward Jordan Wright also averages double-figures and leads the team in rebounding. Wright, out of The Dunham School in Baton Rouge, is averaging 12.3 PPG and 6 RPG and had 13 points and six rebounds when these two teams faced off last season.

Another interesting note is that Pippen did not play in the last matchup of these two teams, with his only appearance against LSU being in Vanderbilt’s 99-90 win in 2020. Pippen’s absence definitely affected the game last season and it’ll be interesting to see his impact on this matchup.

For LSU, Wade gave an update on injuries, most notably that point guard Xavier Pinson would be shut down for a “little while” to get his knee back to 100 percent. Wade gave no timetable on Pinson’s return, but said right now Pinson is at about 70 percent, but needs to be closer to 85 percent to start playing well again.

Wade also mentioned that Justice Williams, Eric Gaines and Brandon Murray are all fighting nagging injuries as well, but did not say that they would miss any time. This is concerning for LSU though, as having all of those players banged up means that there are really no healthy guards left.

Despite the injury issues in the backcourt, LSU’s frontcourt seems to be healthy and playing very well recently. Tari Eason has continued to produce and Darius Days is coming off a 21-point double-double against Ole Miss. Days had been battling an ankle injury over the past couple of weeks, but seems to be back to full speed and playing to his capabilities.

Keys to LSU beating Vanderbilt

The key for LSU in this game will be to contain Pippen and not allow Vanderbilt to stack up points from the free throw line, like many teams have against LSU. Vanderbilt gets fouled on close to 40 precent of its offensive possessions, and that is something that will be to its benefit against an aggressive defense like LSU. LSU will have to be itself on defense, but try to limit the fouls to avoid Vanderbilt getting easy points from the free throw line all night.

Offensively, LSU Basketball will have to make an effort to attack the rim and not settle for tough, outside shots. Vanderbilt does not have great rim protection like other teams in the conference and ranks third to last in the SEC in blocks. This will allow Eason and Gaines, who are great going to the rim, to get easy baskets. That is how LSU will have to attack this Vanderbilt defense.

This is a game that LSU badly needs and a win could help give the Tigers back some of the momentum they’ve lost in this recent stretch. Vanderbilt is coming off a hard-fought loss as well, so they certainly will not back down against LSU. This game should be a very entertaining watch.