Home of LSU Men's Basketball Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Capacity: 13,215

In 2024-25, The Pete Maravich Assembly Center continues its legacy as the historic home of LSU basketball as the Tigers begin their 54th season in the multi-purpose venue which opened late in 1971 and hosted its first men’s hoops game in Jan. 1972.

For a program that will play its 116th season, the former LSU Assembly Center is the venue that LSU has called its official home the longest following in the primary venues of the Huey Long Field House (now the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes) and the Ag Center on the opposite side of the campus. That building was more commonly known to basketball fans as the “Cow Palace.”

Even after all these years, the Maravich Center is still a great place for basketball on the portable wood playing surface.

The building took on a much-needed new look prior to the 2017-18 season with the magnificent giant side and end video boards installed above the court that allows fans everywhere in the building to have a clear look at video and statistics. Last season, the boards were refurbished to keep them state-of-the-art vehicles to entertain and inform the fans during an evening at the Maravich Center.

New modern light capabilities offer some of the best light intensity that has been seen in the history of the building.

The building has seen constant changes since a three-year campaign began in 2005 once the LSU Athletic Department took over complete operation of the facility.

In a year when the building would also become famous worldwide as the site of the largest triage unit in history after Hurricane Katrina, the athletic department was able to finish its renovation in time for the 2005-06 season and turn the building back into a showcase for LSU men’s basketball.

An interactive concourse area depicting the history of the great players who have starred for LSU in the building, additional restrooms and new seats throughout the arena have taken the building to a new level.

Now, the building features a practice facility for men and women along with a men’s locker room complex helping the Assembly Center’s appeal for players and fans for years to come.

The Maravich Assembly Center is, like the other venues LSU basketball has bounced around in through its long history, unique in its own way.

Before moving across from Tiger Stadium (in the 1971-72 season), the Tigers set up shop in the Pavilion on the old LSU campus, the Huey Long Field House Gym Armory (now the Cox Communications Academic Center) and the John M. Parker Agricultural Center.

The building opened as the LSU Assembly Center. During the summer of 1988, then Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed legislation changing the official name of the building to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in honor of the LSU star who had died tragically earlier that same year.

The Maravich Center is also the home for the LSU volleyball, gymnastics and women’s basketball teams.

Pete Maravich never got to play any of his college ball in the Assembly Center, but the plans for the building came while he and the Tigers were packing the “Cow Palace” from 1967-70. So, like Yankee Stadium being the “House that (Babe) Ruth Built”, the Assembly Center can certainly be classified as the “Palace that Pete Built.”

11.5 Million
Original cost of building — $11.5 million; one of the most visible structures on campus.

NCAA’s
Site of two NCAA Regional Basketball Tournaments: 1976, 1986

NIT’s
Site of eight NIT events: 1982, 1983, 1987, 1989, 2002, 2009, 2018, 2024

Women’s NCAA’s
Site of NCAA Women’s Basketball First and Second Rounds in 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2023, 2024.

East to West
East-to-West, you can put a football field and still have almost 33 yards of space left.

North to South
North-to-South, you can put another gridiron and have about 13 yards extra.

3,113,380
There are over one-fifth of a million square feet enclosed and over one-quarter of a million square feet throughout for a total of 3,113,380 cubic feet.

1,750
A total of 1,750 tons of air conditioning keeps the interior at year-round comfort.

LSU Basketball Practice Facility

The modern “workplace of hoops is helping LSU basketball be a better team and a better program every day.

While the front of the building is dominated by the statues of Shaquille O’Neal, Bob Pettit, Pete Maravich and Seimone Augustus, it is what goes on inside the facility that is most important to the present and future of the LSU men’s basketball program.

The chance to schedule practice when needed and the chance to get shots up and do player development work and their game any time is what makes this facility so important.

The facility features exact duplicate full-size gymnasiums for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Each has two portable goals and four overhead retractable goals. Both courts are exact replicas of the PMAC competition court. Each gym features a scoreboard, video filming balcony and scorer’s table with video and data connection. Each gyms spans 11,324 square feet and includes a regulation NCAA court in length with two regulation high school courts in the opposition direction.

The building also includes a central two-story lobby and staircase that ascends to the second level that has a room that can hold approximately 500 people for pre-game and post-game functions that leads into the Maravich Center concourse. The lobby showcases team displays and graphics, trophy cases and memorabilia from the long history of LSU Basketball.

The area also includes the men’s locker room, team lounge, training room, laundry facility, coaches locker room and storage area. Also a new performance fueling station is being built in the lobby by the two practice gyms.

Most recently, a room in the facility was converted to a strength and conditioning room, allowing both teams to be able to complete their workouts in the basketball practice facility.

The facility was constructed by Guy Hopkins Construction of Baton Rouge based on designs by the firm of Tom Holden Architects of Baton Rouge in a unique joint venture with RDG Sports of Des Moines, Iowa.

Practice Facility Facts

Project Cost: $13,913,000

Ground Breaking: July 1, 2008

Facility Opening: Sept. 23, 2010 (Ribbon-cutting ceremony)

Total Project Area: 58,960 square feet of new construction and 1,100 square feet of renovated construction

Contractors: Guy Hopkins Construction of Baton Rouge based on the designs by the firm of Tom Holden Architects of Baton Rouge in a joint venture with RDG Sports of Des Moines, Iowa

• Two state-of-the-art practice gyms each spanning 11,324 square feet; includes a regulation NCAA court in length with two regulation high school courts in the opposite direction.
• Each gym has two portable goals and four overhead retractable goals; both are exact replicas of the PMAC competition court.
• Each gym can hold up to 800 people for special events.
• Each gym features a scoreboard, video filming balcony and scorer’s table with video and data connections to enable instant replay.
• A central two-story lobby and grand staircase ascends to the second level. The lobby showcases team displays and graphics, trophy cases and memorabilia from the past.
• The displays and wall graphics were designed by ZE Design of Centerville, Ohio.
• On the second level of the facility is the Legends Club that opens to an extension of the Maravich Center concourse. It can hold approximately 500 people for pre-game and post-game functions.
• Other areas of the addition include a Weight Room, Men’s Basketball Locker Room, Team Lounge, Training Room, Laundry Facility, Coach’s Locker Room and storage areas.

* limited capacity due to COVID-19 pandemic

Top 20 Men’s Basketball Crowds (Paid)

Through 2023-24 season; Current seating configuration adopted in 2005-06 season; Capacity after remodeling of seating area prior to the 2005-06 season changed to 13,215.

Top 20 Men’s Basketball Crowds (Paid)

Previous Seating Configuration