You would have thought an incredulous LSU senior forward Darius Days had just been told he won the lottery when he was informed Friday he and four teammates are rated among college basketball’s top 10 defensive players.
“Me being here four years by the previous three years, I thought I'd never be in the top ten on defense,” Days said with a huge smile. “But the guys (the LSU team) are locked in and we take pride in playing for each other.”
The No. 21 Tigers and No. 18 Tennessee, the top two teams nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com., meet this afternoon at 5 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (13-1, 1-1 SEC) leads the nation in defensive field goal percentage at 34.7 percent and is fourth in points allowed at 55.6 per game. The Tigers are coming off Tuesday night’s 65-60 home win over Kentucky as the Wildcats became the 10th team that LSU has held under 40 percent field goal shooting this season.
“We've got really good defensive personnel, guys are excited about playing both ends of the court,” LSU coach Will Wade said. “And when you do that, you get a chance to have a good defense.
“The defense we're running this year is not all that different from what we did last year. Here are a few differences but it's pretty similar to me.”
Tennessee (10-3, 1-1 in SEC), which attempts 22.4 3-pointers per game, is led by Santiago Vescovi, the junior from Uruguay who is averaging 13.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Kennedy Chandler averages 13.3 points per game and 5.4 assists per game.
UT’s defense is allowing 60.3 points and 39.4 percent from the field.
“Positionally, they do a good job keeping the ball in front,” Wade said of the Vols. “They don't let you get by them on drives, so they stay at a rotation.”
The game will be telecast on ESPN2 (Tom Hart and Daymeon Fishback) and broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network. The flagship affiliate in Baton Rouge is Eagle 98.1 FM.
Tickets for the game are available all day today at LSUTix.net and will go on sale at the PMAC upper concourse ticket windows beginning at 4 p.m.
