BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team starts life without starting off-guard Lamont Roland Wednesday night at the Maravich Assembly Center when they take on the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Tigers may have added a bit of depth on Tuesday when football tight end Robert Royal joined the LSU team for the two-hour practice session. Royal has been speculated as a walk on possibility for the last few weeks and worked out with the team and is expected to dress on Wednesday night for the contest.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. game will be available during the day Wednesday at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office and beginning two hours prior to game time at the Maravich Assembly Center.
The game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. The Pelican Sports Network on Baton Rouge Cox Cable Channel 18 will televise the game on a tape delay basis at 1 p.m. Thursday and 9 p.m. on Friday.
Roland was lost for the season when he tore his left ACL driving for the bucket with less than a minute remaining in the first half of LSU’s 82-73 loss to Alabama on Saturday at the Assembly Center. The game snapped a 14-game home winning streak for the Tigers, dating back to last season.
Jermaine Williams will move from first off the bench to the starting off-guard spot as LSU will start its remaining five scholarship players. Torris Bright and Collis Temple III will join Williams, a junior from Baton Rouge, at the guards, with Brian Beshara and Ronald Dupree at forwards.
Dupree is second in the league in scoring at 18.8 points per game and third in the Southeastern Conference in rebounding at 9.5 boards a contest.
Vanderbilt, 10-3 overall, comes in like the Tigers at 0-1 in the conference after losing to Ole Miss, 81-68, Saturday in Nashville. The Commodores have played 11 of their first 13 games at the friendly confines of Memorial Gymnasium. Second-year coach Kevin Stallings team is led by Greg LaPointe, the 6-10 senior center who is averaging 12.7 points per game and 6.4 rebounds. Chuck Moore, at guard, is averaging 10 points a contest.
LSU, 9-2 on the season, will go on the road for the first time in conference play on Saturday, traveling to Auburn for a 1 p.m. contest televised by JP Sports. LSU is next back in the Assembly Center on Jan. 17 for its final non-conference game against Centenary.