BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team, already short on numbers due to NCAA sanctions, may have bigger numbers on the bench than first thought when the Tigers tip off the 1999-2000 season Saturday against Grambling State.
The 7 p.m. game is set for the Maravich Assembly Center. Tickets are available for $10 each at the Assembly Center box office beginning at 5:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast throughout Louisiana on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and at www.LSUsports.net on the internet.
The Tigers, after exhibition wins over the Next Level All-Stars (78-70) and the Odessa Team from the Ukraine (94-61), appeared to be heading into the season opener shorthanded with starting off-guard Lamont Roland spraining an ankle in the Next Level game and reserve forward Brad Bridgewater spraining an ankle in Sunday night’s practice.
But Roland, who was thought to be out for up to four weeks, practiced for the first time with the team on Thursday and Bridgewater was off to the side working out with an LSU trainer. While overnight observation will be necessary to see how the ankles respond to the activity there was an optimism that both might dress and possibly see action against Grambling State.
Grambling is expected to try to run against LSU if the 108-102 loss to Vasda in exhibition play is any indication. In that game, Michael Daniels, a junior college transfer, had 21 points and 10 boards in a starting role, while Quadree Drakeford came off the bench to lead GSU with 22 points. In all, Grambling attempted 99 shots, including 43 three-pointers.
The visiting Tigers have a new coach in Larry Wright, a 1982 graduate of Grambling who was a first-round NBA choice of the Washington Bullets.
LSU Coach John Brady is in his third year at the LSU helm. In the first two exhibition contests, freshman Ronald Dupree led the Tigers offense with a 13.5 points per game average, with 9.5 rebounds a contest. Brian Beshara, a junior forward, averaged 13.0 points, while Jabari Smith and Stromile Swift both chipped in 12.5 each in the two wins.
LSU will be right back in action after the opener, hosting Southeastern Louisiana on Monday night at Assembly Center before leaving Tuesday morning to participate in the Thanksgiving weekend Hawaii Pacific Thanksgiving Classic, beginning next Friday.