IOWA CITY, Iowa — It’s been 19 years since the last time the LSU Tigers participated in the National Invitation Tournament, losing to the University of New Orleans at the Assembly Center in a first-round game filled with gimmicks to attract fans such as an out-of-date red, white and blue basketball and a before-its-time 30-second shot clock.
But the 2002 Tigers find itself in a very difficult part of a 40-team bracket, which begins tonight as LSU travels here to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to take on the University of Iowa in a first-round game, needing three wins to get to the NIT version of the Final Four at the famed Madison Square Garden.
Tickets are $19 each for tonight’s tilt in the 15,500-seat arena and $9 for students and some wonder how many will take advantage of the opportunity to see the 19-15 Hawkeyes who made a run through the Big 10 Tournament to the finals after a 5-11 conference record. The Tigers are 18-14, finishing with six wins in the last nine games, including two in the SEC Tournament before falling to eventual champion Mississippi State.
The game will be nationally-televised on ESPN2 with tipoff at 8:35 p.m. CST.
The game will be broadcast on radio in Louisiana by the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
“Playing at Iowa on their home court is going to be a challenge,” said LSU coach John Brady. “Being able to play at this time of the year, the NIT for us, we are excited about it. IT is a positive step for our program. Before the year started, we thought 17 wins and a postseason berth would be good for this team to be able to do we were able to do that without having Collis Temple for a number of games.”
For Torris Bright, Ronald Dupree, Brad Bridgewater and Jermaine Williams, four of LSU’s five starters, this will be a second trip for postseason play in three seasons, as all were members of the 2000 team which advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 before losing to Wisconsin.
This is LSU’s fourth overall trip to the post-season NIT, having played in the 1970 16-team version at Madison Square Garden when Pistol Pete Maravich was a senior, plus the 1982 and 1983 editions when LSU lost in the first round. LSU lost in the first round of the 1986 pre-season NIT and split a pair of games in the 1989 pre-season NIT.
Iowa is led by Luke Recker who single handedly won the quarterfinal and semifinal games of the Big 10 tournament. Recker averages 17.3 points and 3.4 rebounds, while Reggie Evans averages a double-double, 15.6 points and 11.2 rebounds.
The Tigers top player in the last nine games has been Grambling freshman Antonio Hudson who has averaged 16 points over those nine games and 10.5 for the season. He had back-to-back games of 24 against Vanderbilt and 23 against Georgia in the SEC Tournament.
The Iowa-LSU winner is off until next Monday or Tuesday when they will face one of four teams which must come from the opening round play-in brackets: Saint Joseph’s, George Mason, South Florida or Ball State.