BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team goes for its fourth straight win to open the season Saturday as the Tigers host West Virginia University in a Noon contest at the Maravich Center.
The 3-0 Tigers and the Mountaineers meet in a game that will be televised regionally by Fox Sports Net. The radio broadcast will be available on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge). Tickets for the game are available for $10 and $12 online at www.LSUsports.net and on game day starting at 10:30 a.m. at the upper ticket windows of the Maravich Center. Nationally-known hypnotist Tom Silver will be the halftime entertainment.
LSU is coming off a 95-79 win over UNO on Wednesday night in which all five starters scored in double figures. Darrel Mitchell led the Tigers with 20 points, while Antonio Hudson added 18, Glen Davis 16, Brandon Bass 15 and Tack Minor 10. Minor had his first collegiate double-double adding 10 assists to the 10 points.
The Tigers have scored at least 40 points in the last five halves and will put a 56-game non-conference home regular season win streak on the line in the game. The Tigers have also busted 80 points in all three games and now stand at 46-0 in Coach John Brady‘s tenure when scoring 80 points or more in a game.
West Virginia, 17-14 and an NIT participant a year ago, is 2-0 with wins over St. Peters, 82-70, in Morgantown and 72-69 at Duquesne. In the Duquesne win the Mountaineers tied a school record with 14 three-point makes and 35 three-point attempts. Tyron Sally is their leading scorer among starters after two games, averaging 15.5 points per game.
Louisiana basketball fans will remember the starting center for West Virginia, D’or Fischer, who started at center for Northwestern State in 2001 when the Demons advanced to its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
The 6-11 Fischer is averaging 12 points and 6.5 rebounds in the first two games.
This will be the first meeting of the team as the first half of a home-and-home series which will be played next season in Morgantown, at West Virginia. LSU is 8-8 against present members of the Big East, while West Virginia is 18-22 against Southeastern Conference teams.
The game will be the final one of a four-game stretch to open the season for LSU before a University-imposed two-week break for dead week and final exams. LSU, after the Saturday contest, will next play on Dec. 11 at 8 p.m. against Northwestern State. LSU will be trying to go to 4-0 for the fourth time in the John Brady era.