BATON ROUGE — The nation’s No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll comes to Baton Rouge for the first time in eight years Saturday night at 7 p.m. as the University of Arizona plays the LSU Fighting Tigers in the Maravich Assembly Center.
As of noon Friday, some 2,400 tickets remained for the contest. Tickets can be purchased on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net or beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Assembly Center. The game will be televised by ESPN2 and broadcast on radio by the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the LSU web site, www.LSUsports.net. Because of television, the game will tip off 30 seconds past 7 p.m. as soon as ESPN2 comes on the air.
Arizona comes in with a 5-0 record after downing Texas, 73-70, last Sunday in Tucson. LSU is now 6-1, winners of four straight all by at least 20 points. Jason Gardner is the leading scorer, averaging 14.8 points per game and 4.8 assists. Luke Walton will miss the game to allow further rehab on his injured ankle and for him to receive his undergraduate degree at Arizona on Saturday.
Collis Temple received his Masters degree in Sports Management on Friday afternoon and will lead the Tigers who are expected to go with the same lineup they have used for the last four games: Torris Bright, Temple and Antonio Hudson at guards with Jaime Lloreda and Ronald Dupree at the forward positions. Dupree leads the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game, while Lloreda is tops in rebounding and third in the league at 8.6 boards per game. Bright leads the SEC in assists at 5.8 per game.
LSU has beaten two No. 1 teams in its history, one from the USA Today poll and one from the Associated Press poll. The Tigers beat Kentucky, 95-94 in overtime, on Feb. 11, 1978 in a game at the Assembly Center when the Wildcats were No. 1 in the AP poll. In that game, all five LSU starters fouled out. LSU also beat Oklahoma, 84-77, in Lakefront Arena in New Orleans in 1988 when the Sooners were No. 1in the USA Today poll.
This will be the final game before Christmas for LSU who returns to action Dec. 28 in the New Orleans Arena against Tulane at 2:30 p.m. in the second game of the Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic.