COLUMBIA, S.C. — The LSU Tigers open the final week of the regular season here Tuesday night as LSU meets the University of South Carolina at the Colonial Center at 6 p.m. CST in a nationally-televised game on ESPN.
The game will also be broadcast 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 LSU Sports.net.
The Tigers are 20-7 and 12-2 in the SEC and winners of the Western Division of the league for the second straight year and enters play this week with a one-game lead over Tennessee in the battle for the overall regular season conference championship. LSU has won four straight games.
South Carolina has lost the last three games and stands at 14-13 and 5-9 in the SEC West, but its last two losses have been by one point each at Georgia and at home against Vanderbilt.
The Tigers will be handicapped a bit in the game as freshman forward Tyrus Thomas will miss the game after suffering a high right ankle sprain in the Kentucky game. Thomas is on crutches and remained in Baton Rouge to undergo rehabilitation at the LSU athletic training center Monday and Tuesday. Darrel Mitchell (who suffered a mild ankle sprain at Vanderbilt) and Tasmin Mitchell (who has battled back spasms for 10 days) did practice Monday and are expected to play as they did against Kentucky.
It is expected that junior forward Darnell Lazare will return to the starting lineup for the ninth time this season. Lazare is averaging 6.8 points per game and 3.4 rebounds a contest. He has had two games of double figures in league play off the bench this season.
“I like our team against Kentucky and how we found a way to win,” said LSU Coach John Brady. “We handled some adversity during the course of that game. I was proud of that. (Sunday) I couldn’t find our players, and called the training room and four of them were over there. We’ve got a few things that are nagging at us a little bit. We’re going to try to get everybody healthy before the SEC tournament.”
With a one-game lead, the Tigers need a win Tuesday or Saturday at home against Ole Miss to secure at worst a share of the SEC Title. Tennessee, the leader of the Eastern Division, and one game behind LSU, plays Kentucky in Knoxville on Wednesday and closes its season Saturday at Vanderbilt.
The Tigers have won 20 games for the second straight year and the fourth time in the last seven seasons and need one league win to record the school’s best SEC record since the move to a 16-game division scheduled in 1992.
“I knew we had some good players,” said Brady. “There were some moments at Vanderbilt and Kentucky when we had four freshmen on the floor. There’ll be moments at South Carolina when we will have four freshmen on the floor. For our team to play with the amount of freshmen we’re playing with, and being able to win the amount of games we’ve won, I’m a little surprised by it.
“Now that it’s here, we’ve put ourselves in the position to win the league championship out right. That’s something that for the first time (the players) mentioned (Monday) when we watched film. They understand what they want to do and they feel good about what they’ve accomplished. It’s the first time they’ve talked about winning the SEC Championship out right. It’s the mind set they have and hopefully we’ll earn that by how we play the game next two times we have the opportunity.”
Glen Davis was named the SEC Player of the Week for the second straight week as he recorded two more double doubles and he is now the league leader in scoring (18.3 ppg) and rebounding (10.0) after averaging 20 points and 13.1 rebounds over the last seven games.
The Tigers close out the regular season on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Ole Miss in a game to be regionally-televised by JP Sports. It will be senior day for Darrel Mitchell and senior ceremonies will begin at 2:45 p.m. Tickets ($14, $5 for 12 and under) are available online at LSUsports.net and at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office.