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Calipari ejected early at SC

Action gets underway at 1:00 pm ET on Saturday, Feb. 13 and can be seen on CBS.

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All gates and the ticket will call box office on the upper concourse will open at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

South Carolina, on the other hand, is trying to make some noise in a conference typically dominated by Kentucky.

In their previous meeting this season, Texas A&M beat LSU, moving its SU record against LSU to 6-4 in their most recent head-to-head meetings.

“You have two teams that are that good, first- and second-place in the league, and neither team is ranked”. LSU is 15-9 overall. The only win for the nationally-ranked Aggies during that time was a 72-62 win over No. 14 Iowa State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. LSU is 2-2 in games decided by a margin of three points or less.

SC head coach Frank Martin was sacked up about neither teams being ranked when his Gamecocks took on then-first place LSU on Wednesday night. LSU also made just 5-of-14 free throws in the first half of the game.

No one ever said John Calipari couldn’t have a short fuse from time to time. Ben Simmons played well for LSU, recording 20 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Top scorer Michael Carrera is at 20.3 points on 55.8 percent in his last seven after scoring 11.6 on 47.1 through 17. In January, the Aggies defeated the Tigers, 71-57, in College Station.

Senior 6-foot-7 guard Jalen Jones leads the Aggies with 16.3 points and 7.2 rebounds a game.

LSU should be focused, too, after relinquishing sole possession of the SEC lead with a 94-83 loss at SC on Wednesday when the Gamecocks outscored the Tigers 12-5 in the final 85 seconds.

But the Wildcats are no longer a near or unanimous No. 1 the way they were in those games.

The Wildcats have been outstanding at home but beatable on the road, with losses at UCLA, LSU, Auburn (as a double-digit favorite, no less), Kansas and most recently, Tennessee.

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This is the latest game in Vandy’s “just don’t screw anything up” bubble campaign before its rough and tumble end of the schedule.

Jamal Murray