NEW ORLEANS — The LSU men’s basketball team, 9-2 on the season, faces its toughest test to date when the Tigers face 23rd-ranked and undefeated Miami on Thursday night at the New Orleans Arena in the second game of the Nokia Sugar Bowl doubleheader.
Tipoff for the game is 9:30 p.m. CST and will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network on radio and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. The game will also be nationally televised on Fox Sports Net (Channel 37 in Baton Rouge). Tickets for the doubleheader remain on sale through TicketMaster outlets and at the New Orleans Arena box office.
In the opening game of the unofficial SEC-Big East challenge, Alabama will take on Notre Dame in a game beginning at 7 p.m. The Southeastern Conference, in the first two years of the “new” Sugar Bowl Classic, is undefeated at 4-0 with the SEC beating two Big 12 teams in 1999 and the SEC beating teams from Conference USA and the Pac-10 a year ago.
The Tigers downed Oklahoma State and Oregon State in the first two years of the event. This is LSU’s ninth appearance in the Sugar Bowl basketball event, dating back to the 1936 event. LSU is 8-4 overall in the Classic.
LSU is expected to go with its usual lineup of Torris Bright and Collis Temple III at guards with Brad Bridgewater, Ronald Dupree and Jermaine Williams at forwards. Temple leads the team in scoring at 17.8 points per game, while Dupree is the team’s leading rebounder at 7.9 a contest.
Miami, off to its best start since the 1964-65 season, is coached by Perry Clark, a familiar face in the New Orleans area, having coached the Tulane Green Wave for several years before going to Miami prior to the 2000-2001 season. The Hurricanes (11-0) are one of just five Division I undefeated teams remaining, including Duke, Virginia, Oklahoma State and Butler.
Miami is led by pre-season Naismith candidate Darius Rice, who averages 14.2 points per game. All five starters average in double figures with James Jones, Elton Tyler, John Salmons and Marcus Barnes completing the Hurricane lineup.
Following Thursday’s game, the LSU basketball team will return home to conclude its non-conference schedule against Nicholls State on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU opens SEC play at Alabama on Saturday, Jan. 5, at 6 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.