BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team looks to get back on its winning ways and in the process keep alive a long regular season home winning streak for another year when the Tigers take on Tulane at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Tickets for the game, in honor of the first men’s home game of 2006, will be available in the upper level of the building for just $6 and the game marks the start of the “9 for $90” package of tickets that includes the Tulane game and all eight home SEC games. Tickets are available during the day Tuesday at LSUsports.net and at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office. Ticket sales will begin at the Maravich Center upper ticket windows 90 minutes to tip off at 5:30 p.m.
The game will be regionally broadcast by Cox Sports Television (Ch. 37 in Baton Rouge) and on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and to subscribers in the “Geaux Zone” at LSUsports.net.
The Tigers and Green Wave will be meeting for the 206th time with LSU holding a 122-83. This is the fourth straight year the Tigers and Tulane have met, resuming the series after a 20-year hiatus in the series which began after the Wave defeated LSU in the first round of the 1982 NIT.
The more important number is 57, the number of regular season home games LSU has won against Louisiana schools. The streak has been alive since a Dec. 8, 1988 win over McNeese State, two days after the Tigers that year lost to Louisiana Tech in overtime. The Tigers are 5-0 this season against Louisiana schools with wins over Southern, Nicholls State, McNeese State, UNO and Louisiana-Lafayette.
LSU is 7-4 entering the game off two straight losses in which they lost leads in the late portion of the game. LSU lost 75-72 in the Las Vegas Classic when the Bearcats hit two three-pointers late. This past Saturday at Ohio State, the Tigers were 10 points up entering the final three minutes before Ohio State hit four three-pointers and LSU was unable to score, losing 78-76, to the 20th-ranked Buckeyes.
Tulane is 3-7 on the season after a 50-49 loss to UNO in a UNO home game at the Alario Center.
The Wave is coached by first-year coach Dave Dickerson who came to New Orleans after nine years at Maryland as an assistant to Gary Williams.
LSU is expected to go as it started against Ohio State with Darrel Mitchell and Garrett Temple at the guards with Tasmin Mitchell, Tyrus Thomas and Glen Davis at the forwards. Davis comes in averaging 19.3 points per game and 10.0 rebounds, both tops in the Southeastern Conference. Davis has scored 20-plus points in each of the last two games.
Thomas is averaging 13.3 points and 9.6 boards and is expected to make his third straight start and he has double doubles in each of the last three games.
Darrel Mitchell, with one assist will move into the top 10 in career assists, adding another career mark to his totals that find him second in three-pointers made in LSU history, fifth in career percentage and sixth in steals.
Following the Tulane game, LSU will be on the road for a week with a game Saturday at Hartford against the University of Connecticut on CBS Sports and then the Tigers will open SEC play at Arkansas, Jan. 11.