LSU finds itself in an odd position, and it has nothing to do with a five-way tie to be the best non-Kentucky team in the Southeastern Conference.

The Tigers, who won two conference road games last week, are 3-1 away from home in the SEC and have their lone win against a ranked team at West Virginia in December.

But there’s still the big question: Can they do it at home?

The Tigers (15-4, 4-2 SEC) will return to the site of their biggest misstep tonight when they host South Carolina in the Maravich Assembly Center.

Last week’s success — breaking Florida’s 20-game home winning streak and a gutsy comeback at Vanderbilt to win in overtime — no doubt tweaked the interest of the fickle home basketball fans.

But they’ve been disappointed before, most notably LSU’s last home appearance when a big, expectant crowd was treated to seeing the Tigers blow a 12-point lead in the final 10 minutes against Texas A&M.

All told in conference play, the Tigers are 3-1 on the road and a mere 1-1 at home.

But the fans might want to get comfortable.

Three of the Tigers’ six conference games have gone to OT and only the 79-61 statement victory over Florida was decided by more than seven points.

“I think our league is that way and you have to be prepared every night,” LSU coach Johnny Jones said. “South Carolina certainly presents that kind of challenge. They’re going to challenge you at every position on the floor.”

The home floor may be the Tigers’ bigger challenge.

In their last two road games the Tigers have shot 49 percent from the floor — 50 percent from 3-point range. In the two home SEC games they’re 42 percent from the floor and 34 percent from beyond the arc.

“We’ve got to come out with the same energy at home that we’ve played with on the road,” LSU second-leading scorer Jordan Mickey said. “We probably haven’t played as hard as we need to at home. We’ve got to out-compete people because road teams come in here excited to play us and we have to match that.”

LSU is joined in the 4-2 SEC logjam behind unbeaten Kentucky by Arkansas, Texas A&M, Georgia and Tennessee.

Another three teams are a game back at 3-3.

South Carolina (10-8, 1-5) is on a two-game losing streak, but the latest SEC team to give No. 1-ranked Kentucky a semi-scare at home last Saturday before falling 68-43.

“We had one bad four-minute stretch that got us,” South Carolina coach Frank Martin said.

“It should let us know that we were able to compete with a really good Kentucky team. We didn’t get a PG version of Kentucky. We got the unedited version because we beat them last year and they came in here to get us. We stood up to that challenge.”

The Gamecocks also had nonconference victories over Oklahoma State and Iowa State, both of which were ranked at the time.

(MGNonline)