BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team returns to action Tuesday hoping to improve on the performance they showed in a seven-point, 71-64, win over Alcorn State at the Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers take on the Skyhawks of Tennessee-Martin at 7 p.m. in the Assembly Center. Tickets, priced at $10, will be available at the Assembly Center box office beginning at 5:30 p.m. The contest will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and at www.LSUsports.net on the internet.
LSU’s sloppy play and poor free throw shooting (19-of-37) along with aggressive play by the defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champions made the evening long for LSU and the Tigers hope that two spirited days of practice will put them in the right frame of mind to face the Skyhawks (2-4). UT-Martin comes in off a 64-53 loss at Austin Peay in the Ohio Valley Conference opener on Saturday.
Hayden Prescott, a 6-5, forward, is the leading scorer for the Skyhawks, averaging 12.7 points per game and 5.3 rebounds a contest for Coach Bret Campbell in his first year at UT-Martin.
The Tigers’ 6-0 start is the best since the 1992-93 team won its first six games and a win Tuesday night will make it the longest opening winning streak for an LSU team since the 1985-86 team won its first 14 games. Stromile Swift continues to lead the Tigers attack with a 20.8 points per game average and the sophomore from Shreveport is coming off a 19-point, 10 rebound performance in the win over Alcorn State.
Following the UT-Martin game, LSU will play Sam Houston State at home Saturday in a special 2 p.m. afternoon contest. That game will be televised regionally by College Sports Southeast.