BATON ROUGE — LSU looks to use the momentum from an important road win to help keep a home-court winning streak alive Saturday when the Tigers play their first Southeastern Conference home game of 2006 against the Tennessee Volunteers.
Tip time at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center is set for 7 p.m. and is the back half of the Saturday evening Fox Sports Network doubleheader. The game was changed from 5 to 7 p.m. several months ago, but after the deadline for some printed materials for the game.
The radio broadcast of the game will be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and in the “Geaux Zone” powered by USAgencies at LSUsports.net. On-demand video from the contest will be available one hour after the post-game show.
Tickets for the game are $14 and will be available during the day Saturday online at LSUsports.net and beginning 90 minutes prior to game time at the upper concourse ticket windows at the Maravich Center. Youth tickets (for ages 12 and under) are available for $5 each.
LSU is 9-5 on the season and 1-0 in the SEC after winning, 63-58, at Arkansas Wednesday night in the first game in which the Tigers did not have a three-pointer in 262 games. The win gave LSU seven straight conference wins going back to last season.
But where LSU wants to continue to have the success is at the Maravich Center, a building where the Tigers were 8-0 last year in conference play, the first time LSU had been undefeated in conference play at home since 1981. That year, the Tigers were 9-0 at home during an 18-game conference season en route to the NCAA Final Four. In fact, LSU enters the Tennessee game on a nine-game conference home winning streak dating back to the end of the 2003-04 season.
Tennessee is making itself a force in the league under new head coach Bruce Pearl, one of three 2-0 teams in the SEC East and 11-1 overall. The Volunteers won Wednesday night in Knoxville, 89-76, over Georgia.
Chris Lofton and C. J. Watson lead the perimeter-oriented offense of Tennessee, both averaging 16.8 points per game.
“I think Tennessee’s team shows you what excellent guard play can do,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “Hopefully playing at home will give us a boost.”
The Tigers counter with the big inside lineup, featuring the league leading rebounder, Tyrus Thomas, and the league’s second leading scorer, Glen Davis (17.6 ppg). Senior Darrel Mitchell is third in the league in scoring (17.4 ppg). LSU continues to dominate on the rebound boards with the nation’s leading rebound margin of over 14 a game.
“We are going to have to go to our strengths and they are going to have to go to theirs,” said Brady. “The guys who will be able to go to their strengths longer wins. If we can take care of the ball and recognize the changes in defense, we will have the advantage.”
Following Saturday’s game, the Tigers are in Starkville, Miss., on Wednesday to take on Mississippi State.