BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team opens its final homestand of the 2001 basketball season Saturday night at 7 p.m. when the Tigers play host to the one SEC team it defeated this year, the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
The Tigers and Bulldogs meet at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and tickets are available at $10 beginning two hours prior to tipoff at the Assembly Center box office.
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 only television for the game will be a local tape-delayed presentation on the Pelican Sports Net on Cox Cable 18 at 1 and 7 p.m. on Sunday.
The Tigers are coming off an 84-61 loss to Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Wednesday in a game in which the Tigers had a one-point lead in the final five minutes of the first half and stayed in the contest for the first 28 minutes.
Jermaine Williams had his fourth consecutive double figure scoring game and led LSU with 14 points, while Brian Beshara had his second consecutive double figure scoring game after his recent shooting slump, with 13 points. Ronald Dupree had his second consecutive double double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
LSU looks at this as a possible win situation against the Bulldogs, having beaten Mississippi State in Starkville, 82-73, on Jan. 24. In that game, LSU had big games from Beshara, who dominated the first half in a 24-point performance, and Temple, who had the big second half in a career-high 27 point night.
Mississippi State has won two straight games coming into the LSU game, including Wednesday’s 80-65 win against Vanderbilt which ran the Bulldogs record to 14-10 and 5-8 in the SEC West. Robert Jackson and Marckell Patterson each had 16 points for MSU.
“Every team we’re playing seems to be playing well coming in to our game,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “Again against Mississippi State, we are catching them at time when they are playing well. Our team is holding up okay. Mississippi State is a team we have beaten at their place and we look forward to the chances these last two home games provide us. We’ll play it and see how it goes.”
The Tigers close out the home schedule on Wednesday against Ole Miss at 7 p.m. in the Assembly Center. Pregame ceremonies at 6:50 p.m. will honor the three Tiger seniors, Brian Beshara, Lamont Roland and Jack Warner.