BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers, trying to avoid looking ahead to a matchup with top-ranked Arizona, must keep their mind on business Tuesday night at the Maravich Assembly Center as the Prairie View Panthers come to town for a 7 p.m. contest.
Prairie View has a new coach and more scholarships to offer this season and it has shown in the quality of play so far. The Panthers are only 1-2 but have a win over Houston, was down to Oklahoma by three with six minutes to play before losing by 12 and then took Texas A&M to double overtime.
The Panthers are coached by Jerome Francis, Jr., an assistant coach at Houston the last three years. The University has also stepped up on its commitment to the program, offering eight scholarships this season, after offering just 3.3 the last few years.
There is no television for the contest, but the radio broadcast can be heard on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. Tickets for the game ($10) will be available at the upper ticket windows of the Assembly Center beginning at 5:30 p.m.
One fan at the contest will have an opportunity to make two shots, one in each basket from the same spot on the court, to win $10,000 in cash.
LSU is coming off a 95-60 win on Saturday over Texas A&M Corpus Christi, a game in which LSU shot over 60 percent in both halves, despite coming off a seven-day layoff for final exams. LSU also dished out 30 assists in the contest with Torris Bright having seven with just two turnovers in 24 minutes of play.
The Tigers were led in scoring by Ronald Dupree with 18 points, while Antonio Hudson added 12, Jaime Lloreda 11 and Thomas Davis and Collis Temple each had 10.
The Tigers return to action against top-ranked Arizona on Saturday at 7 p.m. in a game televised by ESPN2. It will mark the first time a top-ranked team has come into the Maravich Assembly Center since 1994 when Arkansas beat the Tigers, 108-105.