LSU hoops stay strong

The LSU men’s basketball team wasn’t expected to do much in the 2011-12 season.

Don’t look now, but the Tigers are really rolling in advance of the SEC Tournament.

Thanks to an 18-point, 5-rebound showing from Iowa State transfer Justin Hamilton, LSU rolled to another win this weekend, scoring a 68-58 road victory against South Carolina.

The win was LSU’s third straight and fourth in their past five games.

It also makes the Tigers 16-10 on the season with a 6-6 record in the SEC.

“We’ve set a goal that if we do everything right and win the games were supposed to, well be in a good situation,” Hamilton told the Associated Press following Saturday’s win.

The goal the LSU big man referenced is the 20-win mark – something that appears to be well within reach, according to the team’s schedule.

LSU closes the season with four-straight games against teams they have either already beaten or are currently above in the SEC standings.

The Tigers take on Georgia tonight at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, a team that is just 3-8 in SEC play.

Following that game, LSU will face probably its biggest remaining test, a road matchup with Ole Miss, who is currently 15-11 on the season.

But the Rebels have been hit or miss this season and are currently trending more toward the “miss” side of the spectrum, having lost five of their past seven games, including a 102-76 home drubbing at the hands of Vanderbilt on Thursday.

The Tigers have also beaten the Rebels this season, owning a 81-55 win over Ole Miss in early January.

But several Rebels were missing from the lineup in that game, so the lopsided score is likely not a true measure of the teams’ competitive zest against one another.

Following the Ole Miss game, LSU closes the season with a home tilt against Tennessee and a road matchup with Auburn.

The Volunteers are currently just 14-13 on the year and LSU already has a victory over Auburn under its belt this season.

If the stars align, in the final two weeks, LSU is likely to have a solid seed in March’s SEC Tournament, which is held in New Orleans.

If recent games are an indicator, LSU appears ready to embrace that home court advantage.