OXFORD, Miss. — The LSU Tigers, after playing a strong game on the road despite losing at Alabama Saturday, hope to get another similar effort Wednesday night when they face 25th-ranked Ole Miss.
The Tigers and Rebels will do battle at 7 p.m. in the “Tad Pad,” the “Tad” Smith Coliseum.
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. There is no television coverage for the event.
LSU is 11-8 overall, 1-7 in the SEC West entering the final four weeks of the regular season. LSU’s lone win came on the road at Mississippi State and its best played basketball since Lamont Roland tore his ACL and was lost in the Jan. 6 conference opener, has come away from the Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU lost 76-66 on Saturday before a sold-out crowd in Tuscaloosa, but the Tigers had the lead and stayed right in the game for 35 minutes.
“We played with a lot of heart, and a lot of intensity,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “We just couldn’t make enough plays down the stretch to win the game and Alabama did.”
LSU enters the final eight games, probably needing four wins to get a chance to go to the NIT. The NIT committee has invited every SEC team in recent years with a .500 overall record or better. The effort in LSU’s road games has been enough to give LSU a chance to win at Georgia and at Alabama and the Tigers will need that again to stay with an Ole Miss team that is battling with the Tide for the West title.
“Defensively, they are every bit as good as anyone in the league,” said Brady. “(Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes) has done as good a job as anyone in the league. We’ve got to play almost the best we can possibly play to win the game. We can’t turn it over. We’ve got to get away from some of the casual turnovers we’ve had the last few games.”
LSU against Alabama had 20 turnovers and in conference games is averaging 17 turnovers a game.
LSU will go with its normal lineup of Torris Bright (12.2 ppg), Jermaine Williams (6.2 ppg) and Collis Temple III (14.5 ppg) at the guards, with Brian Beshara (12.2 ppg) and Ronald Dupree (18.1 ppg, 8.9 rpg) at forwards.
The two forwards for Ole Miss lead the Rebels in scoring, with Justin Reed averaging 11.0 points per game and Rahim Lockhart, 12.9 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per contest. Ole Miss is 17-4 overall and 5-3 in the league and coming off a come-from-behind 74-70 decision Saturday at Auburn. In that game, the Rebels had to rally from a 36-27 halftime deficit.
LSU will return home after the game Wednesday to the Maravich Assembly Center for a Saturday 7 p.m. contest with Auburn. Tickets for that game are available at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office for $10 each and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.