BATON ROUGE — For the first time since 1993, the LSU men’s basketball team will get a turn in the Big Dance when No. 4 seeded LSU faces No. 13 seed Southeast Missouri State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Thursday.
Should LSU advance to the second round, the Tigers would face the winner of No. 5 Texas and No. 12 Indiana State.
Other games in Salt Lake City include No. 1 Arizona versus No. 16 Jackson State and No. 8 Wisconsin versus No. 9 Fresno State. All four of these first round games take place Thursday, March 16. The second round will be played Saturday, March 18.
Southeast Missouri State, the winner of the Ohio Valley Conference Championship, is 24-6 on the season and will be making its first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
The second-seeded Indians defeated top-seeded Murray State, 67-56, in the Ohio Valley Championship game to receive the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
In head coach John Brady’s third season in Baton Rouge, he improved from 12-15 in 1998-99 to 26-5 this season. Brady was named the SEC Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and is on the ballot for National Coach of the Year.
The last time out, the Tigers fell to Arkansas, 69-67, in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament in Atlanta, Ga. Arkansas went on to win the conference tournament championship over Auburn, 75-67, Sunday to earn the league’s automatic bid and a No. 11 seed.
This is the highest seed for a LSU men’s team since the 1981 team made it to the Final Four. LSU was a No. 5 seed in 1990.
The LSU Athletic Ticket Office announced late Sunday a number that fans interested in attending the LSU first and second round games in Salt Lake City may call for tickets.
The games, scheduled for Thursday and Saturday, will include LSU’s first round matchup with Southeast Missouri State.
The ticket number at the Jon M. Huntsman Center is 801-581-8849. Ticket books for the tournament are $92 covering all sessions in the first two rounds.
In addition, up to 100 student tickets at $30 each will be available beginning Monday morning at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office. These tickets will only be sold to current students at LSU and the person purchasing the ticket must have a valid ID when they purchase the ticket at LSU and when they pick up the ticket at will call in Salt Lake City. There is a limit of one ticket per student.
For further information on the LSU student tickets, contact the LSU Athletic Ticket Office at 225-388-2184.