NEW ORLEANS — The LSU men’s basketball Tigers and the SEC looks to remain unbeaten Thursday night in the second year of the new format of the Nokia Sugar Bowl Basketball Classic at the New Orleans Arena.
The Tigers, 7-1 on the year, will take on Oregon State of the Pac-10 in the 9:30 p.m. nightcap of the one-night doubleheader format that began a season ago. Florida will play Tulane in the opener at 7 p.m. Both games are being telecast on Fox Sports Net (Channel 26 in Baton Rouge, Fox Southwest in Louisiana).
On radio, the LSU game will be available on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
Tickets remain on sale at the Arena for the contest. Last year’s Missouri-Kentucky and LSU-Oklahoma State doubleheader drew a Sugar Bowl record crowd of 12,341, the first five-digit attendance in Sugar Bowl basketball history. With many LSU fans already in Atlanta for the Peach Bowl, the attendance is not expected to reach that level on Thursday night.
LSU is making its eighth Sugar Bowl Classic appearance and enters the Oregon State game with a 7-4 record. Last year, Kentucky defeated Missouri and LSU defeated nationally ranked Oklahoma State to give the SEC a 2-0 mark against the Big 12 in the event.
The Tigers come in off three days of practice after two days off for Christmas, including an hour and 20 minute workout on the Arena’s portable wood floor set up over the ice hockey surface in the venue.
“The Christmas day work out was really good. Yesterday was okay and today was a lot better,” said LSU coach John Brady. “We tried to cover what Oregon State is going to do and what we need to do against Oregon State. Our workouts have been good and I think our team is looking forward to playing.”
Oregon State is a team of streaks as it enters the game with a 6-5 record. After winning four straight games to open the season, then proceeded to lose five straight, before coming back last week with wins over Eastern Washington (58-50) and South Carolina State (62-46). Jason Heide is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13.6 points per game. The Beavers rank second in the nation for scoring defense, allowing just 54.8 points per game, holding five of 11 opponents to 50 points or less.
It seems to set up a battle of contrasting styles between the Tigers and Beavers.
“From the tape that we’ve seen on Oregon State,” said Brady. “They are very patient and deliberate and don’t want to get into a full court game. We kind of like the full-court game. We’ll just see what happens. Our team went on the road at Houston and got into a patient game with them and we were able to win the game. We would prefer the game to be a little faster paced.”
LSU leads the overall series with the Beavers, 2-1, winning two games in a three-week period in December 1969, one in Baton Rouge and the other in Corvallis. Tiger great Pete Maravich scored 43 points at LSU and 46 in the win at OSU. Maravich’s totals are the second and third most ever against Oregon State. Maravich also set LSU records in the game at OSU by making 30-of-31 free throws, including another school record 21 straight.
LSU returns home after this game on Jan. 3 to face Wyoming, presently with an 8-2 overall record. That game at the Maravich Assembly Center will begin at 6 p.m. to allow fans to see the basketball game and the majority of the national championship football game between Florida State and Oklahoma that same evening in the Orange Bowl.
Also on Wednesday, Jefferson Pilot Sports, based on the schedules for the NFL playoffs has announced that the Jan. 6 Alabama at LSU men’s basketball game, the conference opener for both schools, will begin at 12:30 p.m. JP Sports will regionally televise that game.