BATON ROUGE — The schools met in two exciting games in the late 1980s in football and now LSU and Ohio State meet for the first time in men’s basketball Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Center.
Tickets for the game will be on sale at the upper concourse ticket windows at the Maravich Center beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. There is no over-the-air television for the game in Louisiana or the Southeast. The game will be shown on ESPN Plus’ package in the Big 10 viewing area and on ESPN Full Court. The game will be broadcast on radio on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.
At Saturday’s game, the BMX Extreme Team will perform at halftime. These high-flying bicycle daredevils will bring their stunts and tricks to the Maravich Center for their first appearance in Baton Rouge.
The Tigers are 7-5 and coming off what may have been their best overall performance of the season in a 79-64 win over South Carolina on Wednesday. Ohio State is 12-4 after dropping a Tuesday match at Wisconsin, 72-66.
The Buckeyes are led by Terence Dials, averaging 16.0 points per game and 8.3 rebounds a contest. The 6-9 junior forward/center is shooting 59.5 percent from the floor. Two other starters are in double figures — Tony Stockman at 14.3 points per game and J. j. Sullinger (10.6 ppg).
Ohio State is 10-0 at home and 0-3 on road courts this season.
The Tigers are hoping for some consistency and some carryover from their first home game Wednesday in 30 days as they evened their Southeastern Conference record at 1-1. Glen Davis had a career high double double with 28 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Tigers as Darrel Mitchell hit five three-pointers to score 18 points.
All five starters are averaging double figures for the Tigers led by Brandon Bass at 16.3 points per game and a team high 8.3 rebounds a contest. Also expected to start for LSU are Antonio Hudson (13.4 ppg), Davis (13.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg), Mitchell (12.4 ppg) and Tack Minor (12.1 ppg, 5.3 apg).
“Hopefully the fans will come watch us based on what we were able to do the other night,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “We appreciate those who came out Wednesday night and the students are starting to come back and I know the players appreciate the fans who were there. (Ohio State) is a very good team that we are going to play and we are looking forward to another chance to continue to get better.”
The Tigers will remain at home after this contest returning to conference play Wednesday at the Maravich Center against Arkansas at 7 p.m. Tickets for that game can be purchased on the Internet at www.LSUsports.net.