BATON ROUGE — The 24th-ranked LSU men’s basketball team tries to keep its hold on first place in the Southeastern Conference Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center when the Tigers play host to Auburn.
Game time is 7 p.m. for the non-televised contest. 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.
Tickets are available at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUsports.net for $14 with $5 youth tickets available for those 12 and under. Tickets will go on sale at the upper concourse windows of the Maravich Center at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Fans can not only purchase their tickets online for the game, but also can print them out on their home computer printers and avoid the will-call lines at the box office.
The first 1,000 fans through the gates will receive a free hot dog and one fan will have the chance to shoot for $10,000 courtesy of Campus Federal. Also fans attending the Recruiting Bash earlier in the day at the River Center can show their ticket stub and get a ticket for $10.
LSU is 14-5 overall entering the contest, winner of seven of the last eight games and a perfect 6-0 in the SEC Western Division. The Tigers have a one-game lead over Tennessee, the Eastern Division leader, and a two-game lead over Alabama in the Western Division. Auburn is 9-8, 1-5 in the league after winning its first league game, 66-65, Saturday in Auburn over Georgia.
The Tigers enter the game having won 12 straight conference games at home, dating back to the final game of the 2003-04 season. LSU has also won 12 straight conference games (both home and away), dating back to the final six league games of a year ago. LSU is coming off a 79-73 victory at Ole Miss on Saturday in a game that saw Darrel Mitchell score 20-plus points for the second straight game, hitting for 28 as he earned SEC Player of the Week honors.
Tasmin Mitchell also had his season high in the contest, getting 20 points, including the go-ahead for good three-pointer in the final two minutes.
Rasheem Barrett and Ronny Lemelle lead Auburn averaging 11.5 points per game, but it was Josh Dollard with 16 points and six boards that led the Tigers in the win over Georgia.
Tiger Coach John Brady hopes his team continues to respond as they did in the Ole Miss game.
“I was proud of our team Saturday,” he said. “I’m proud of how they responded. We played a good basketball game against Ole Miss. Our players are happy where they are right now. It’s about where you are at the end, not where you are right now. Our goal isn’t to be ranked or be recognized, but to play well.”
Following Wednesday’s game the Tigers go on the road to Tuscaloosa for a noon game Saturday at Alabama. That game will be regionally televised by JP Sports to start a string of four straight telecasts on that network. LSU will next be back at home in the Maravich Center on Feb. 8 against Arkansas at 7 p.m.