BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team went through a 40-minute scrimmage with officials Saturday in the practice gym of the Maravich Assembly Center, the first of the 2006-07 preseason for the Tigers, ranked seventh in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll announced on Friday.
The team scrimmaged for four 10-minute periods with lineups mixed and mingled throughout the four games. Three of the four games were very competitive with one ending in a 10-10 tie between the Purple and Gold squads of six players each and another decided 19-16 for the Purple when Garrett Temple hit a three-pointer in sudden death overtime.
“I thought it was good for us to get up and down the floor in a competitive situation,” said LSU Coach John Brady “The players were certainly looking forward to it. I thought our execution was pretty good. We had a few careless turnovers, but you expect that the first time you scrimmage. Overall it wasn’t too bad. It is great in that we now have some tape that we can show our team and teach off of that. It was a good thing for us to be able to do and overall, a good positive day.”
Scoring for the combined 40 minutes was pretty balanced with six players in double figures, led by the 18 points of Darnell Lazare. Tasmin Mitchell scored 15, Glen Davis 14, Tack Minor 13, Magnum Rolle 12 and Garrett Temple 10. Chris Johnson led all players with 13 total rebounds and Ben Voogd topped the assist chart with four, while Dameon Mason and Temple had three apiece.
The Tigers return to practice on Monday afternoon as they continue preparations toward the first of two exhibition games on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Maravich Assembly Center against EA Sports. LSU opens the 2006-07 season against Nicholls State at 7 p.m. on Nov. 17 in the Maravich Center on a night when the NCAA Final Four banner will take its place in the ring of banners at the top of the building.
Tickets for the 2006-07 season are available at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office (225-578-2184) and online at www.LSUsports.net.