AUBURN, Ala. — Two 0-2 teams in the Southeastern Conference Western Division look to find their way Saturday when the league’s pair of Tigers, Auburn and LSU, meet Saturday at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.
The game is set for a 1 p.m. tip off and will be carried on the league’s syndicated package through Jefferson Pilot Sports. The radio broadcast will be carried by the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and will be available on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
LSU has lost two consecutive games for the first time in almost a year, dropping SEC games to Alabama and Vanderbilt, while the Tigers of Auburn have lost consecutive overtime decisions in the league at home to Tennessee in double overtime and this past Wednesday at Georgia.
The visiting Tigers appeared to have settled on an eight-man rotation that now includes the five scholarship players as starters – Torris Bright, Jermaine Williams and Collis Temple at guards and Brian Beshara and Ronald Dupree at the forwards – with walk-ons Charlie Thompson and Jason Wilson off the bench. That lineup was further solidified on Wednesday night when All-SEC football tight end Robert Royal came off the bench and gave the Tigers seven solid second-half minutes after just one practice.
It was with Thompson and Royal in the game that the Tigers began to make a move as they cut a 20-point Vanderbilt lead down to just two with two minutes to play, before losing, 71-67.
The Tigers are 9-3 overall. Auburn is 10-5.
LSU will return home for a Wednesday non-conference game with Centenary at the Maravich Assembly Center at 7 p.m. The Tigers’ next league action is on Sunday, Jan. 21, when LSU travels to Athens to take on Georgia in another weekend JP Sports appearance.