LSU basketball is undefeated this season despite a major flaw

LSU basketball will take the floor on Wednesday night against Lipscomb with a chance to move to 12-0 on the season.

The Tigers are off to their best start under Will Wade, thanks mostly to some well-played defense that has kept LSU in some games that could’ve easily gone the other way.

LSU’s last win — a 66-57 win against Louisiana Tech — saw the Tigers facing a halftime deficit for the fifth time this year.

LSU, however, outscored the Bulldogs by 17 in the second half to erase Louisiana Tech’s eight-point halftime lead.

While it’s obviously a great thing that LSU is 11-0, there’s still one major flaw the Tigers need to fix before conference play gets underway on December 29 at Auburn.

LSU basketball’s major flaw this season that needs to be fixed

The Tigers’ biggest flaw this season that needs to be fixed is easily their slow starts.

Opposing teams have been able to jump out to early leads against LSU this season, forcing the Tigers to play catch up.

It says a lot about Wade and his team that LSU has been able to gut out several wins this season in games they probably should’ve lost.

But is this style of play sustainable?

Likely not — especially with SEC play looming.

So how does LSU fix it?

The obvious answer is to score points early.

I know, I know. That goes without saying. But it would solve all of LSU’s issues — and it doesn’t necessarily need to be a flood of points.

When the Tigers don’t score, they aren’t able to press. And when they can’t press, teams can push the ball up the floor and easily score in transition.

LSU essentially needs to find better shot selection early in the game — specifically in the first two to three minutes of a game.

No ill-advised three-point attempts. No shots with 20 seconds left in the shot clock. Create open looks with ball movement instead of trying to rush to create momentum.

The Tigers don’t need to jump out to big leads early. They just need to keep the game close early and eventually, their suffocating defense will allow LSU to pull away.

If the Tigers can fix this one flaw, we could see a Will Wade-led team finally make a Final Four run.