AUBURN, Ala. — The LSU Tigers play for second place in the SEC Western Division Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum as LSU takes on Auburn in the regular season finale.
The Tigers are 18-8 and 8-7 in the SEC Western Division after downing Ole Miss, 58-45, Wednesday night in Baton Rouge in a game where LSU scored only 10 first half points and then proceeded to score 48 points against the Rebels in the second half while scoring the final 13 points of the game to cap a total rally from 16 points down.
“I’ve been proud of our team of late, considering what they have been through the last week losing Jaime Lloreda for the year,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “I thought the way we played against Kentucky was quite good. We didn’t play as well offensively against Ole Miss in the first half, but we came out and scored 48 points in the second half playing with four freshmen and a sophomore. My team is showing some resiliency right now. Last night gave us win number eight in the SEC this year and we are looking forward to going to Auburn and the SEC Tournament.”
The Tigers can capture the second spot and the first round bye with either a win or an Alabama loss in Tuscaloosa to Mississippi State on Saturday. LSU has the tiebreaker if both teams tie for the spot because of two January wins over Alabama. The Alabama-Mississippi State game begins one hour prior to the LSU-Auburn game.
Last year, LSU and Auburn tied for the second spot at 8-8, with LSU losing the tiebreaker and getting the third seed.
The team that gets the bye does not play until next Friday at 2:15 p.m. CST in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals, while the third place team faces the 8:45 p.m. game in the first round on Thursday.
Auburn comes into the game with a 13-13 overall record and 4-11 in the SEC West and on a four-game losing streak, including a 105-91 loss at Starkville on Tuesday. Auburn is still in position to be the fourth seed in the SEC West.
There is no television for the game and the radio broadcast will be available in Louisiana on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.