#18 Alabama at LSU Game Thread

The Crimson Tide hit the road tonight for yet another Tuesday night show-down with first place in the SEC on the line. This time, it’s in Baton Rouge for a match-up with the best team Will Wade can buy, the LSU Tigers. The Bayou Bengals only blemish in conference play was a tight loss on the road against Florida a few weeks back, so a win tonight would put them in a tie with Alabama at the top of the conference, with a head-to-head result giving them the top seed in the SEC Tournament, if it were to start this week.

Of course, a win for Alabama puts the Crimson Tide clearly out in front of the pack in pole position for the SEC regular season crown. It would also make it quite difficult to imagine a scenario where the Tide doesn’t at least split the title, as the toughest portion of conference play will be in the rearview after tonight.

Alabama will likely roll with the same starting five as Saturday: Herbert Jones, John Petty, Jaden Shackleford, Josh Primo, and Alex Reese, while LSU will counter with Javonte Smart, Cam Thomas, Trendon Watford, Mwani Wilkinson, and Darius Days. The line has bounced back and forth between Alabama -1 and LSU -1 since it was released on Sunday, so we’ll call this one a true pick’em.

The game tips at 8:00 PM CST and will be televised on ESPN2.