BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team returns to action on Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Vanderbilt in a Southeastern Conference showdown at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers (13-8, 2-7) are coming off a heart-breaking 56-54 loss to SEC Western Division-leader Auburn on Saturday. In the game, Nathan Watson knocked down a three-pointer with 4.1 seconds remaining to thwart LSU’s comeback.
Auburn led the entire game before the Tigers finally took the lead, 54-53, with just over three minutes remaining. Ronald Dupree led LSU with 17 points and seven rebounds.
Vanderbilt (10-10, 3-6) enters the contest having lost two straight and five of its past seven. The Commodores are also winless on the road this season, going 0-7. Last time out, Brian Thornton led Vandy with 22 points on 10-14 from the field in a 84-72 loss to South Carolina.
The game can be heard via the radio on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) or over the Internet at www.LSUsports.net. Jim Hawthorne and Kevin Ford will call the action from the PMAC.
It is the 97th overall meeting between the LSU and Vandy, with the Commodores owning a 52-44 advantage. However, the Tigers have been better in Baton Rouge with a 26-18 record. The teams split meetings last year with Vandy winning at Nashville, 68-63, and LSU winning in the SEC Tournament at Atlanta, 69-62.
All-SEC forward Ronald Dupree leads LSU into action with his 15.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Junior Jaime Lloreda is close behind with 12.2 points and 8.5 boards a contest.
Junior forward Matt Freije paces Vanderbilt with 17.7 points a game while Brian Thornton drops in 13.7 a game.