BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The talking is over. Those predicting a long run for LSU in the NCAA Tournament are about to find out whether they are right or whether they have given the LSU opponent plenty of material for the bulletin board.
LSU, the eighth-seed, and ninth-seed Purdue meet Friday at approximately 2 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA South Regional at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center in downtown Birmingham. The Tigers and Boilermakers will meet the winner of the day’s first game, Texas-UNC Asheville, which begins at 11:30 a.m.
ESPN.com voters, Digger Phelps and others to be the ones to win this 8-9 game have predicted the Tigers and in fact, many have spent more time working on analyzing a second-round game with LSU and Texas even before the tournament begins. The Birmingham News came out predicting LSU with a good chance to make the Final Four in its Thursday editions. All before the referee throws a ball up in the BJCC. It’s something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the folks from Purdue.
“You really don’t want to give teams anything to put up on a board,” said Purdue guard Willie Deane. “We’re going to use that to our advantage. LSU might be overlooking us, but we’re going to go out there and give them a good run.”
“In the NCAA Tournament, anything can happen,” said guard Collis Temple III. “We are not letting any hype get to us. We are going to have to bring our A game.”
“I think we are still the underdog,” said LSU’s Torris Bright. “We are going to take it one game at a time and play the best we can.”
“We’re going to have to warriors on the boards,” said Gene Keady, the long-time coach at Purdue in his 23rd season at the school. “We’re going to have to defend their 3-point shooting. They’ve got great depth off the bench so it’s going to be tough. They remind me a lot of Louisville — had to match up with.”
The two teams are meeting for only the second time in their history and the first came in a first round South Regional game at the Maravich Assembly Center in 1986. The Tigers, just an 11th-seed who would eventually end up in the Final Four, would defeat Purdue, 94-87, in double overtime.
LSU comes into the game with a 21-10 record, having won seven of the last eight games, while Purdue is 18-10 overall and the Boilermakers finished up 10-6 in the Big 10. The Boilermakers tied for third in the Big Ten with Michigan and Michigan State.
“We need to understand how this team is put together,” said LSU coach John Brady. “They are fundamentally sound and physically tough. I think the key to this game is our perimeter versus theirs. I also think we match up well around the goal.”
The Tigers practiced twice on Thursday, once for about 50 minutes at Samford University’s Siebert Gym, home to John Brady in his six years at the Samford coach, and for less than 40 minutes at the BJCC following the press conference in the afternoon and Brady pronounced his team ready.
“I am every excited about being back in Birmingham,” said Brady. “I coached at Samford and it is fun to come back. I love d the city and the people here. My team is looking forward to playing a good Purdue team here in Birmingham.”
There has been extra security procedures put in place at the BJCC along with other NCAA sites. The television broadcast is still as of Thursday night scheduled for CBS, but the game could switch over to ESPN if CBS decides to go with full-time war coverage during the day. The radio broadcast will be heard in Louisiana on the LSU Sports Network and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
TICKETS AVAILABLE
The Southeastern Conference announces that tickets are available to the public for both Friday sessions of the NCAA Men’s Basketball 1st/2nd rounds in Birmingham. Session 1 and Session 2 tickets are $40 for each session and will be available at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning at the BJCC box office. Only walkup sales will be permitted. Friday’s game schedule is listed below.
Friday, March 21
11:30 a.m. — Texas vs. UNC Asheville
30 minutes following — LSU vs. Purdue
6:20 p.m. — Louisville vs. Austin Peay
30 minutes following — Mississippi State vs. Butler