SEC Basketball Predictions: LSU/Nicholls State, Arkansas/Montana, and Tennessee/Washington

There are three games on Saturday’s SEC basketball slate, with a couple of teams trying to stay undefeated on the season.

It was a productive Friday in SEC basketball, as several teams around the league picked up convincing wins.

There are three games on Saturday’s slate, with a couple of teams trying to stay undefeated on the season.

Let’s get to the SEC basketball predictions.

Season Predictions Record (straight up): 35-4

Nicholls State at No. 23 LSU (4PM EST, SEC Network+): The Tigers will look to get back on track after the two-point loss at VCU, and obviously, correcting the turnover issues will be a big focus. LSU turned it over 26 times against the Rams, who are tied for 18th nationally in turnovers forced. Guess who they’re tied with? Nicholls State. The Colonels have played well on the road thus far in winning at Pitt and losing in overtime at Illinois, so they won’t back down from the challenge here. But Will Wade should have his team’s attention after their first defeat of the season, and I’ll lean towards LSU to get the victory. Prediction: LSU 83, Nicholls State 69.

Montana at Arkansas (5PM EST, SEC Network+): Arkansas has held its first two opponents to 43 points each, and Eric Musselman and his staff certainly have to be pleased with that. Montana lost four starters from a season ago and is still working on building chemistry with a new rotation. The Razorbacks rank 11th nationally in forcing 45 turnovers through two games, and that should be the difference for Musselman’s squad. Prediction: Arkansas 80, Montana 59.

Tennessee vs. No. 20 Washington (5PM EST, ESPN+): The Vols rallied to get a nice win against Murray State earlier in the week, but this will be a bit more of a challenge in a neutral-court matchup in Toronto. While Mike Hopkins may have one of the youngest teams in the country, the Huskies are extremely talented and have the size to make things difficult on Rick Barnes’ squad. The emergence of Yves Pons has been key for Tennessee, and both he and John Fulkerson will need to be at their best against a talented Washington frontline. How the Vols attack the 2-3 zone will also be a huge factor, and the positive is that they’ve shot 46.2 percent from 3-point range to this point in the season. Simply put, this game feels like a toss-up. But since we’ve already seen Washington win a neutral-court game against a talented team in Baylor, I’ll pick the Huskies in this spot. Prediction: Washington 65, Tennessee 63.