HILO, Hawai’i — Ball State has already proven it earlier this week at the Maui Invitational how teams can come together to do good things on a trip to the Islands.
LSU proved it two seasons ago when they defeated Oakland, Wyoming and Fresno State in the 1999 Hawaii Pacific Thanksgiving Classic. It was the weekend which jump started the Tigers season that would eventually lead all the way to the Sweet 16.
Now, John Brady looks at his Tigers and wonders if there is a repeat possibly in the works. He knows his team has lots of work to do and needs to force the play to get to the foul line more, but he hopes some of those things will come together tonight at 6:30 p.m. HST when the Tigers take on Weber State of the Big Sky Conference in a first round game of the Big Island Invitational.
The game from the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network (107.3 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
The Tigers are 2-0 coming off an 83-59 win over Campbell and a 97-69 decision over Southern. LSU was able to put both games away, but Brady is hoping for a more solid defensive effort, if the emphasis in practice on Wednesday in Kona was any indication.
This is LSU’s 10th trip overall to nation’s 50th state since 1970 for basketball. LSU has an on-court record of 20-8. This will be LSU’s first trip to the Big Island Invitational.
The main threat for Weber State is 6-2 guard Jermaine Boyette. Boyette, who averaged 19.1 points per game and earned first-team Big Sky honors a year ago, scored 31 in the season opening loss at Illinois State last Friday. Weber State is 1-1 overall after winning Monday at home against Concordia, 103-77. Boyette is the preseason choice of the Sporting News as player of the year in the Big Sky.
Weber State is coached by Joe Cravens, who is 33-24 in his two years as head coach.
LSU arrived in Hilo after a 2? hour drive from Kona about 12:30 p.m. HST and had Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant. After checking in to the Hawai’i Naniloa Hotel at 2 p.m., the team watched tape and then practiced for 75-minutes in a 3:30 p.m. HST practice session.
Coach Brady and the other coaches in the tournament took part in a 5 p.m. HST press conference at the host hotel.
“We have a lot of questions about our team like everyone else does,” said Weber State Coach Cravens. “We won one we were supposed to win. We lost one we were supposed to lose. I’m looking forward to this to find out a lot about our team. I have a very diverse team, two Europeans, a kid born in Jamaica and reared in Toronto, Canada, three returning Mormon Missionaries and three kids from Gary, Indiana. So if you are a fan and can’t find someone to like on my team you are out of luck. I’m looking forward to finding out a lot about my team. LSU is a very tough opponent. But we are looking forward to the challenge.”
“I don’t know why Joe is so scared about my team,” said LSU’s Brady in replay. “You look back at what we did a year ago and we didn’t set the world on fire. We do have a collection of guys who like to play and try to play extremely hard. Sometimes that works out. We are not a great team. We are a good team. We are in the process of becoming better. I’ve watched Weber on tape. They’ve got some experience back. They are very well coached. They have a plan about what they are doing. It will be a good challenge for us.”
The rest of the Friday schedule and Baton Rouge tip times finds Colorado State and South Carolina State meeting at 4 p.m. before the LSU-Weber State match-up at 6:30 p.m. Hawai’i and Mercer open the night session at 9 p.m. with Wisconsin and Hawaii-Hilo (the other half of the LSU bracket) going at 11:30 p.m. CST.