By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. will miss his seventh Southeastern Conference game out of 10 and second in a row on Saturday against Georgia at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center (5 p.m., SEC Network) with a foot injury.
Thomas, a junior transfer from UNLV, was listed as “out” in LSU coach Matt McMahon’s availability report to the SEC office on Friday. But do not think he is opting out.
“One thing I just want really clear is that knowing today’s age of college athletics, you hear a lot of opt outs and things like that,” McMahon said. “I mean he is doing everything in his power. He wants to be on the floor. He wants to help his team, whether it’s 10 minutes a game or 30. Just right now and over the last week since reinjuring it against Mississippi State (on Jan. 28), he’s been unable to go. He’s day-to-day right now.”
After Saturday, LSU hosts No. 21 Arkansas (16-6, 6-3 SEC) on Tuesday (8 p.m., SEC Network).
Thomas re-injured his foot on Jan. 26 in the 80-66 loss to Mississippi State and missed the Tigers’ 92-87 overtime win at South Carolina last Saturday. Before that, he missed the first five SEC games of the season with the injury. He still leads LSU (14-8, 2-7 SEC) in scoring with 15.3 points a game and 104 assists (6.5 a game) in 16 games with 15 starts.
But the Tigers have gradually learned how to play decently without him going into the game against Georgia (16-6, 4-5 SEC), which has lost three straight with a 92-77 setback to Texas A&M last Saturday at home.
In LSU’s win at South Carolina, the Tigers put up a season-high 23 assists with guard/forward Max Mackinnon getting eight.
Senior transfer Rashad King has taken over the point. He scored a season-high 18 with seven rebounds at South Carolina. LSU’s inside play has also improved behind 6-foot-10 center Mike Nwoko, who scored 21 points in the last game and is averaging 10.9 points and 5.6 rebounds in nine SEC games. He leads the Tigers in shooting percentage at .585 (38 of 65) among the starters in SEC action. Forward Robert Miller III is averaging 6.4 points and 4.1 rebounds off the bench and shooting at .684 (26 of 38).
“It’s been a challenge because we had to change how we play without D.J.,” McMahon said. “You saw a lot more off-ball screening versus on-the-ball screening the first 13 or 15 games. And I thought we did a much better job from a screening standpoint. We were able to create some advantages there, and then our decision making and back screens that led to lobs.”
That led to the 23 assists out of 31 field goals.
“That’s the pathway for us moving forward,” McMahon said. “Less dribbling. More ball movement, more off-ball screens give us our best opportunity to be efficient on offense right now.”
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