AUBURN, Ala. — The 25th-ranked LSU Tigers had their final workout Friday evening at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum in preparation for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference matchup with Auburn.
LSU and Auburn meet at 5 p.m. in a game to be regionally televised by Fox Sports Net. The radio broadcast of the contest will be available on the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and in the “Geaux Zone powered by USAgencies” at LSUsports.net.
LSU is 17-7 and 9-2 in the SEC Western Division after a 72-59 decision over Mississippi State Wednesday night in Baton Rouge at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Auburn is 10-12 and 2-9 after falling 105-89 at Tennessee on Wednesday in a game in which both teams shot 56 percent from the field for the game and Auburn outscored Tennessee, 64-63, in the second half.
The two teams met on Feb. 1 in Baton Rouge with LSU getting an 84-69 decision in the Maravich Center as Darrel Mitchell had 27 points to lead LSU in the game and Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas had nine rebounds each to lead LSU in the rebound category. LSU has won the last four meetings of the series, although Auburn still leads, 31-30, in games played in Auburn.
“It’s an important game,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “It’s important, because it’s our next game and it’s on the road. We need to focus to be at our best at Auburn. We had a good win against Mississippi State. We had an 18-point lead that we let slip down to eight or 10 points at one time. It was good to see Tyrus Thomas play well. We need our defense and rebounding to continue on Saturday.”
Against Mississippi State, the Tigers were led by the 19 points and 13 rebounds of Davis, while Thomas had 16 points and 13 boards as well. Davis needs just five rebounds to become the 34th player in LSU history to grab 500 rebounds.
Darrel Mitchell, who Wednesday became LSU’s all-time leader in three-point field goals, leads LSU with an 18.2 scoring average, second best in the SEC. Davis’ 9.7 rebound average is the best in the league.
Auburn, under second year head coach Jeff Lebo, is led in scoring by senior guard Ronny LeMelle at 12.0 points per game and freshman Rasheem Barrett, who scores at an average of 11.1 a contest.
LSU, losers of road games at Alabama and Florida the last two Saturdays, has a two-game lead over Alabama in the SEC Western Division entering the final five games of the regular season. The Tigers are one game behind league leader Tennessee for the overall regular season championship.
LSU is 4-4 on the road this year, 3-2 in the league with road wins at Arkansas, at Mississippi State, at Ole Miss.
The Tigers have virtually clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming SEC Tournament in Nashville, assuring the Tigers first game in the tournament would not be until the second night of the event, March 10.
LSU continues this two-game road trip on Wednesday night at Vanderbilt (7 p.m., no TV) before returning to Baton Rouge to play host to Kentucky Saturday (Feb. 25) at 2:45 p.m. in a game to be regionally-televised by CBS.