We have revenge at home tonight for LSU as Mississippi State comes to town. At first glance with LSU you'll see a 10 loss team that's only 4-6 in SEC play. However a deeper look will show a team that's 4-1 at home in SEC play with that only loss coming to Kentucky. These teams met in Mississippi in late January with the bulldogs escaping with a narrow 5 point win. The fact that LSU was able to hang tight in that game is a good sign for tonight's rematch. Another edge LSU should have tonight is their very stingy defense, that will be critical towards slowing down a solid Bulldogs offense. On the year LSU ranks 31st in the nation in defensive efficiency, and really take pride in their defense. Going on the road in the SEC is tough enough, doing so against a defense like LSU's makes it even tougher. Throw in the revenge angle which should lead to a very inspired LSU effort tonight and it's enough for me to roll with Tigers.

 

 

 

 

 

We have a good opportunity to back Clemson here at home with a shot at revenge, and with one of UVA's most important players banged up. Joe Harris is far UVA's best perimeter player will be a game time decision tonight with a broken left hand. Yes that isn't his shooting hand, but even if he can give it a go tonight he won't be nearly 100%. It's really hard to tell based on the information out there if he'll play or not, but we are comfortable with this pick either way. When going against Virginia it's critical you have a big man that can go up against and hold his own with Mike Scott. In Devin Booker, Clemson has just that. Booker is every bit as big, strong, and athletic as Scott is. The better he can do 1 on 1 against Scott down low the less Clemson will have to double down low and leave open shooters on the perimeter. When these teams met Jan 31st in Virginia, Clemson only fell by 4 points and have to feel like they could've come out of there with a win. A close road loss like that should give them the confidence they need to believe they can pull off a victory tonight.