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Alabama vs LSU: 2021 SEC Tournament game preview, TV schedule

By Matt Melton

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 13: John Petty Jr. #23 of the Alabama Crimson Tide waves goodbye to Tennessee Volunteers fans as time expires during the second half of their semifinal game in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 13, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. Alabama defeats Tennessee 73-68. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 13: John Petty Jr. #23 of the Alabama Crimson Tide waves goodbye to Tennessee Volunteers fans as time expires during the second half of their semifinal game in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 13, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. Alabama defeats Tennessee 73-68. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images) /
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When: 1:00 pm ET, Sunday, March 14 on ESPN

Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN

After winning close games on Saturday afternoon, Alabama and LSU will meet on Sunday afternoon for the third time this season in the SEC Tournament Championship Game, the first appearance for each school in over 15+ years.

The SEC Regular Season Champs will now play for an SEC Tournament Championship as top-seeded Alabama used a massive second-half comeback to defeat Tennessee 73-68. This will be Alabama’s first appearance in the SEC Tournament Championship Game since 2002.

The Crimson Tide are ranked as the #1 defensive team in the nation according to KenPom, and showed why on Saturday afternoon as the Tide forced 19 Tennessee turnovers. Alabama didn’t necessarily have their best offensive day as the Tide went 7/28 (25%) from 3-point range, but made some massive shots and free throws down the stretch.

The Crimson Tide were led by SEC Player of the Year Herbert Jones who finished with a game-high 21 points and 13 rebounds, and Jahvon Quinerly who added 19 points on 8/13 shooting. Alabama showed that they were capable of winning a close game when the 3’s weren’t falling, and this will certainly benefit them as they will surely be in that situation again this season.

LSU on the other hand had arguably one of the more impressive wins on Saturday as they defeated Arkansas 78-71 to end the Razorbacks 12-game SEC winning streak. This is also the Tigers’ first appearance in the SEC Tournament Championship Game since 1993.

This was an all-around effort for the Tigers offensively as LSU shot 42.4% from the field, 47.4% from three, and 86.7% from the free-throw line. The LSU “Big 4” led the way for the Tigers as they combined for 62 of the Tigers 78 points on Saturday.

Star freshman Cameron Thomas led the way for LSU with 21 points which included 4/6 from three, while LSU got 19 points from Ja’Vonte Smart, 13 points, and eight rebounds from Darius Days, and nine points and seven rebounds from Trendon Watford. LSU will struggle to contain the team’s defensively, but the Tigers have the offensive abilities to beat anyone if the shots are falling.

Alabama should be considered the clear favorite in this matchup, not just because it is a 1-seed playing a 3-seed, but because of the previous meetings. The Crimson Tide and the Tigers played twice during the 2020-2021 season, both of which Alabama won by a combined 48 points.

The key to this game is solely on LSU. The Tigers have been terrible offensively against Alabama in two games this season only shooting a combined 34.5% from the field, and haven’t gotten much meaningful production aside from Thomas. LSU has also been bad on defense as the Tigers have given up 29 made Alabama 3’s in those two games.

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LSU has to play their best two-way game of the season to win. Alabama will score with ease against this LSU defense, and as talented as the Tigers are offensively, the Tide defense has given the Tigers big problems so far this season. Plain and simple, if the Tigers struggle to score, the Crimson Tide will roll to their first SEC Tournament Championship since 1991.

Prediction: Alabama 86 LSU 75

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