Coach Will Wade called LSU’s performance on Wednesday ‘sickening’ and in order to avoid a third conference loss Saturday at the PMAC, the Tigers will need all hands on deck for No. 5 Tennessee.

The game has been circled on calendars since the start of the season and with an 11 a.m. tipoff, has been sold out for nearly three weeks. Despite the recent loss to Florida that dropped LSU a game behind the Volunteers in the conference standings, the Tigers are a team that still controls their own destiny.

A win Saturday for example, would propel LSU back to the top of the SEC and with Tennessee and Kentucky still with one showdown left on March 2, the Tigers would be in the driver’s seat. That’s easier said than done of course.

The Volunteers sport one of the deepest rosters in all of college basketball, headlined by Bob Cousy Award candidate Jordan Bone, Admiral Schofield and SEC player of the year Grant Williams. Williams, who won the award in 2018, is No.1 on a short list to repeat the title, averaging 19 points and 7.6 rebounds per game and is in the top-10 in the league in points, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocks.

“They can pound the paint, they’ve got efficient three-point shooters with (Jordan) Bowden and Lamonte Turner,” Wade said. “Then Bone’s a kid – we were a finalist for him at VCU. I did an in-home visit with him when I was the head coach at VCU. He’s just an ultimate competitor and he’s really, really improved and gotten better. Obviously Williams is the odds-on favorite for player of the year in the league. Schofield is just an animal. They’ve got good pieces and elite coaching. That’s a pretty good combination.”

Tennessee (24-2, 12-1) travels to Baton Rouge following a 86-69 blowout loss at Kentucky and a 58-46 home win over Vanderbilt. The Volunteers commit the fewest turnovers per game (10.5) in the SEC while also shooting 50 percent from the field, good for second best in all of college basketball.

The biggest key for the Tigers will be to not shoot themselves in the foot with turnovers of their own as the efficiency in which Tennessee scores will make it very difficult to stay competitive. Another area that has flared up for LSU has been allowing too many offensive rebounds. Over the last three games the Tigers have allowed opponents to grab 15, 14, and 15 offensive rebounds that has led to 52 second chance points.

Wade said the physicality in which Tennessee plays in the paint is among the elite and it will be important for big men like Kavell Bigby-Williams and Naz Reid to not pick up early fouls.

“We need to keep our best horses on the floor,” Wade said. “They’re an extremely, extremely physical team so we need to be able to match or exceed their physicality. You’ve got to walk a fine line when you play them because you can’t back down, but then you can’t pick up some unnecessary fouls either trying to match what they do.”

LSU was competitive with the Volunteers a season ago until the final nine or so minutes of the game that allowed Tennessee to break away and win by 23. Wade said while you can’t really learn anything from the previous year, the one thing you can tell about Tennessee this year is its growth in maturity, returning all five starters from the 2018 team.

“They don’t lose any games they’re not supposed to lose,” Wade said. “They just blow people’s doors off, the teams they’re supposed to beat, they handle their business. There’s no overtimes, nothing too crazy most of the time. Nine times out of ten, they handle their business. They’ll show up in the big games and see what happens. That’s when you’ve got an elite, elite program and a top-five or ten team.”

Despite the outside noise and talk around campus about the magnitude of Saturday’s game, Wade said the team has been very focused on the task at hand though admitting they are all excited to play a top-5 team at the PMAC.

“We’ve been much sharper with our focus,” Wade said. “Hopefully that will carry over to the court. We’ve been pretty good at adjusting when we’ve had to make some adjustments. Hopefully we’ve made the right adjustments and we’ll be able to get into the game and execute tomorrow.”