BILOXI, Miss. — The LSU Tigers begin a five-game road swing that starts here Saturday afternoon and continues through Texas, Utah and ends in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Jan. 8.
The Tigers take on Southern Miss in a home game for the Golden Eagles in the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum at 2 p.m. Saturday in what is being billed as “The Grand Classic.” There is no television for the game with the radio broadcast on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the internet at www.LSUsports.net. Tickets for the game are available at the Coliseum.
This is the start of a road swing that will take the Tigers to Houston for a game with the Cougars on Tuesday before taking a break for Christmas. LSU will then travel to the New Orleans Arena for the Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic doubleheader on Dec. 30 to face Florida State (Mississippi State and Virginia Tech meet in the other game.). The Tigers then leave on New Year’s Day for Salt Lake City for a Jan. 3 date against Utah before opening SEC play on Jan. 8 at Tuscaloosa against Alabama.
LSU’s next home game is Jan. 12 against South Carolina.
The Tigers are 5-1 on the season after surviving a late McNeese State run on Monday night to win, 82-79. Southern Miss, under first-year coach Larry Eustachy, is 6-2 on the season after defeating Alcorn State, 82-61, in their last game.
The Tigers’ Brandon Bass has been big for the Tigers in recent games, coming off strong efforts against Northwestern State and McNeese, highlighted by 27 points against the Cowboys. Bass leads the league in scoring average (19.5) and field goal percentage (66.7%) and he is second in the league in free throw percentage.
The rest of the LSU lineup is expected to remain intact with Tack Minor, Darrel Mitchell and Antonio Hudson at the guards and Glen Davis at the other forward position. All five starters average in double figures for the Tigers with Minor tied for the conference lead in assists at 5.7 per game. Mitchell averages 14.0 points a game, Hudson 13.5, Minor 11.7 and Davis 11.3.
Southern Miss has wins over Colorado-Colorado Springs (75-61), Southeastern Louisiana (65-62), McNeese (100-77), Centenary (70-53), Spring Hill (76-60) and Alcorn. The Golden Eagles’ two losses came at the hands of Georgia State (70-68) and UNC-Greensboro (79-78). Center Jasper Johnson has been the leading scorer for the Golden Eagles, averaging 17.1 points a game and 7.0 rebounds a game. Jarekus Singleton, a starting forward, averages 11.8 points per game. Johnson had 23 points and 10 boards in the win over Alcorn.
“Southern Miss is the most physical team we have played to this point,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “They are more physical than West Virginia. We have to defend and rebound the ball and get that into our game for us to be successful.”
The Tigers arrived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast early Friday afternoon and went through a workout on the floor of the Coliseum, the primary home of the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the East Coast Hockey League. Coliseum officials are hoping for a crowd of around 4,000 in the 9,500 seat (for basketball) setup in the building for the back half of a two-game series which LSU won 65-50 last Dec. 23 in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers in that game against Southern Miss a year ago struggled offensively, making just 2-of-23 three-point attempts and 7-of-14 free throws. Brandon Bass had 15 points and Antonio Hudson 10 against the Golden Eagles a year ago. LSU has won all five previous meetings and this will be the first to not be played in Baton Rouge.