BATON ROUGE — The 15th-ranked LSU gymnastics team welcomes 22nd-ranked Auburn to the Maravich Assembly Center Friday evening at 7 p.m. for the home opener for LSU.
The Tigers opened the 2002 season last weekend in Gainesville, finishing fifth at the Super Six Challenge. After struggling on bars and beam to open the meet, LSU rebounded to finish strong on floor and vault, something head coach D-D break hope will carry over to Friday night’s competition.
“I think we showed over the second half of the competition last Friday that we’re capable of performing as well as anyone in the country,” said Breaux. “We can’t dig ourselves in a hole again this week, however, we’ve got to be ready from the start and be able to do it for four rotations – not two.”
Auburn enters with a 3-0 record after defeating Illinois, Illinois-Chicago and Centenary last weekend. The Tigers are coached by former LSU assistant Jeff Thompson, who in his third year has begun to make a true impact at Auburn and has his team ranked for the first time in years.
LSU owns a 33-5 record against Auburn in regular season competition and has won 18 consecutive decisions overall in the series, but Breaux knows that this Auburn team is much different.
“This is a tough team we’re facing on Friday night,” said Breaux. “They’ve come a long way in a short period of time at Auburn and we expect a really good competition from them. We need to be at our best.”
LSU took a 195.675-194.450 decision in Auburn a year ago, then also picked up a victory over them at the SEC Championships. LSU has not dropped a decision to Auburn since 1993.
LSU will be led by its senior-dominated lineup including Nicki Arnstad, who scored a perfect 10.0 on floor last week at the Super Six Challenge.
Following the Auburn showdown, LSU returns to Gainesville next weekend for the second time in three weeks, this time to take on Florida in a dual meet. The Tigers will then return home for a pair of crucial home meets against top five teams, as fourth-ranked Utah comes to the Assembly Center on Feb. 1, followed by sixth-ranked Alabama on Feb. 8.