BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers and the South Carolina Gamecocks go in search of a second Southeastern Conference win Wednesday when they meet at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The game, regionally televised by JP Sports (Cable Channel 9 in Baton Rouge), ends a string of three nationally ranked teams the Tigers have faced in the past two weeks. The contest will also be broadcast on the LSU Sports Network throughout Louisiana (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. Tickets are available for $10 at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office and beginning at 5:30 p.m. on game day at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Center.
The Tigers are 12-7 on the season, 1-6 in the SEC West and come into the game with five consecutive losses. South Carolina is 7-10 and also 1-6 in the SEC East, entering the contest with six straight losses.
“We’re going down to Baton Rouge, and you’ve got two teams who are similar in that we are both desperate for a win,” said South Carolina Coach Dave Odom.
“We’re in the same boat as South Carolina,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “They need a win. We need to everything we can do to make sure out team is in the right state to play Wednesday.”
LSU will have Jaime Lloreda back in uniform on Wednesday after sitting out the game at Alabama because of a one-game SEC suspension for an unsportsmanlike foul late in the Florida game. The Tiger that is most on fire is Ronald Dupree, coming off back-to-back 20-point games against Florida and Alabama last week. He remains second in league game rebounding at nine boards a contest and he is averaging over 16 points in league play.
Brady looked at a few different lineup combinations in practice Monday, some involving Torris Bright and Xavier Whipple, who came off the bench and played most of the last 10 minutes of the Alabama game.
The Tigers went through a good 90-minute workout Monday and the emphasis was obvious. “We’re going to work on our defensive transition and rebounding, and that’s all we’re going to work on,” Brady said.
The Tigers hope to stop a two-game losing streak at the Maravich Assembly Center and hope for as partisan a student crowd as was present for the Florida game. In that regard, Brady took out an advertisement in The Reveille, the school paper, thanking the students for their support and hoped they would continue to support the team through the February portion of the schedule.
“LSU has an advantage because they are at home, but that is something that we have to overcome. They’ve lost a couple of tough games. They’ve really got a good nucleus. LSU is going to be one of those teams that as we get into the second half and get closer to the SEC Tournament that are going to be dangerous,” said Odom.