BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team, trying to shake off the effects of injuries and a loss at home Wednesday night to Auburn, must travel to one of the toughest places to play in the Southeastern Conference, Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The game will tip off Saturday at 5 p.m. and will be regionally televised as part of the SEC-TV package on Fox Sports Net (Channel 38 on Baton Rouge Cable). The radio broadcast will be heard on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
The Tigers are 17-5, 7-4 and despite Wednesday’s loss, still in good shape for the second spot in the Western Division and a bye in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament, March 11-14 in Atlanta. LSU is three games up in the West on Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss who are all 4-7. The Tigers are three games behind league leader Mississippi State at 10-1.
Vanderbilt enters the game with 16-6 mark, 7-6 in the SEC Eastern Division, coming off a 70-67 win at Tuscaloosa against Alabama on Wednesday. In that game, Vandy’s Matt Freije tied a career high, scoring 32 points with five treys as Vandy won on the road for the first time this season.
Both of LSU’s injured players remain question marks, although it appears more likely that Regis Koundjia will miss his second consecutive game for LSU with an MCL sprain. Jaime Lloreda is still a question mark for LSU and his status will be reevaluated after a morning practice Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium.
font face=”Arial” size=”2″>The game is the first of two road games for LSU, as the Tigers travel to Starkville to take on Mississippi State on Wednesday night before LSU returns home for a game with Kentucky on Sunday, Feb. 29. Former LSU Coach Dale Brown will be honored at halftime of that game and all fans are encouraged to wear gold.