ATLANTA, Ga. — The LSU Tiger basketball team had their final major workout Thursday prior to their first game Friday night at approximately 8:45 p.m. CST in the Southeastern Conference Tournament here at the Georgia Dome.
LSU will not know its quarterfinal round opponent until close to midnight Atlanta time as the Tigers, the No. 2 seed in the West and the co-champions of the division (19-8, 12-4), will meet the winner of Thursday night’s final first-round game between Auburn and Vanderbilt.
The Tigers practiced in the Atlanta Hawks training facility located under the Phillips Arena in downtown Atlanta. The team went through a practice of a little over an hour and will have a final walk through in the facility on Friday.
LSU has won six straight games coming into the tournament and has won 13-of-the-last-16 games. The Tigers could be facing Vanderbilt for the second consecutive game in the quarterfinal round, having won, 81-69, last Saturday at the Pete Maravich Center in the season finale. LSU defeated Auburn twice this season, 90-69, on Feb. 9 in Baton Rouge and 77-64, in Auburn on Feb. 26.
“Our team has really played well as of late,” said LSU head coach John Brady. “I’ve been proud of what they have done. To be where we were in December and come back to share the Western Division title with Alabama speaks well of our team. We’re going to approach the SEC Tournament relaxed and confident knowing that I believe we are in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re either going to play either Vanderbilt or Auburn. We played Vanderbilt the other day. The preparation won’t change a lot. It is two opponents that we played recently. We did not change much during the week. All we have to do is some reinforcement on certain situations.”
Brandon Bass will lead the Tigers after earning consensus All-SEC selection by both the coaches and the Associated Press (media).
“I wouldn’t trade Brandon Bass for any player in the league,” said Brady. “He’s had a fantastic year. His success is directly tied into our success. Certainly, Brandon has been valuable to us.”
LSU will continue with its normal starting lineup around Bass joining second-team SEC selection and Freshman of the Year Brandon Bass at forward with Antonio Hudson, Darrel Mitchell and Tack Minor at the guards.
“Our goal is to play the best we can possibly play with a lot of confidence,” said the eighth-year Tiger coach. “We are going to play the best we can see what happens.”
The games of the first three days will be televised regionally by JP Sports with the LSU radio broadcast available on the LSU Sports Network (Eagle 98.1 FM) and on line at www.LSUsports.net.