BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team, looking to rebound from Sunday’s Southeastern Conference opening loss at Georgia, opens a four-game home stand Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against non-conference rival Houston.
The game is slated for 7 p.m. as the Tigers put a 44-game non-conference regular season home winning streak on the line. There is no television for the contest and the LSU Sports Network will handle the radio broadcast throughout Louisiana and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
Tickets for the game can be purchased all day Wednesday at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office or on the LSU web site on the Internet and beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the upper ticket windows of the Maravich Assembly Center. One fan will have a chance to make two shots at halftime to win $10,000.
The Tigers (9-2) will have a slightly altered lineup as forward Jaime Lloreda will miss the game with a hyper extended left knee and deep bone bruise suffered in the final moments before he was removed in Sunday’s loss at Georgia. An MRI showed no tear and while he is out for the Houston game he has not been ruled out of Saturday’s game with No. 7 Mississippi State, although Coach John Brady is listing him as doubtful for that game.
Brad Bridgewater, who started the first three games when the Tigers were going with three forwards and two guards in the starting lineup, will take Lloreda’s place in the three guard, two forwards lineup. Lloreda is averaging 13.1 points per game and 8.7 rebounds through the first 11 games. His rebound average is third in the league and his field goal percentage of 65.9 percent ranks first in the league. Bridgewater, who started 31-of-34 games a year ago at the position, is presently averaging 3.0 points per game and 2.1 rebounds.
Bridgewater will join forward Ronald Dupree who had his second consecutive double double (16 points, 10 rebounds) against Georgia with Torris Bright, second in the league in assists (5.83 a game) along with Collis Temple and Antonio Hudson at the guards.
Houston is 2-8 on the season, coming off a 72-56 loss to Louisiana Lafayette on Saturday night. The Cougars have lost five straight games with its last win, a 60-69 decision over Texas-Arlington, on Dec. 7. Louis Truscott is the leading scoring on the Cougar team, averaging 16.7 points a game, while Andrew Owens averages 14.0 points per contest.
LSU remains at home after the Houston game for three more contests – Saturday at 7 p.m. against No. 7 Mississippi State, Jan. 15 against Centenary (7 p.m.) and Jan. 18 versus Ole Miss (1 p.m., televised by Jefferson Pilot Sports).