BATON ROUGE — The sixth-ranked LSU Tigers face their toughest test of the season Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center when the 24th-ranked Wichita State Shockers come to town for the Tigers third game of the season.
The game will be regionally televised by CST (Ch. 37 on cable in Baton Rouge) and the radio broadcast will be available on the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and for subscribers of the “Geaux Zone powered by USAgenices” at www.LSUsports.net.
Tickets for the game remain on sale on the internet at www.LSUsports.net for the game and ticket sales will begin at the Maravich Center upper concourse ticket windows beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, 90 minutes prior to tipoff.
The game will mark the first time since Feb. 8, 1992, that a ranked LSU team has faced a ranked non-conference opponent on the floor of the Maravich Assembly Center. That day in 1992 No. 22 LSU faced No. 1 Duke. Wichita State moved into the Top 25 in the AP poll this past Monday after a strong 72-66 victory at George Mason in a nationally-televised contest that made the Shockers 3-0 on the season.
Both teams have had a week to prepare for the game with the 2-0 Fighting Tigers coming off an 88-57 win over Louisiana-Monroe last Sunday afternoon at the Maravich Center. In that game, Glen Davis had 26 points, 17 in the second half and Tasmin Mitchell had a career high 21 markers.
Mitchell had a career-best five three-point field goals against ULM, while in the first two games the Tigers have knocked down 18 treys, surprising some of the so-called experts who felt the trey would be a trouble area for the Tigers.
“For us to shoot the ball from the arc as good as we have, that’s a pleasant surprise,” Coach John Brady said. “Hopefully it’s something that we’ll keep going with our team and keep improving. Hopefully that’ll keep showing itself up in our play.
“We’ve had four or five days to get ready for Wichita State and it will be challenge for us,” said Brady. “They’ve got four starters back and are feeling good about themselves after beating George Mason and getting in the poll. We certainly hope our fans will come out and support us.”
Besides threes, LSU has done a tremendous job of taking advantage of good passes and turning them into basketbas with 51 assists in the first two games combined. LSU is shooting 59.3 percent in the two games (67-of-113), compared to 34-of-127 (26.8 percent) for the games.
Junior Sean Ogirri led the Shockers against George Mason with 19 points, while seniors Ryan martin and Kyle Wilson each had 16 points for WSU. The Shockers shot 26-of-59 for the game from the field, including 10 three-point field goals. Mark Turgeon is in his seventh year as the head coach at Wichita State after taking his team a year ago to the NCAA Sweet 16.
LSU is expected to start the same lineup as in the first two games with Garrett Temple (11.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 5.0 apg) and Dameon Mason (7.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg) at guards with Mitchell (17.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.0 apg), Davis (16.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and Darnell Lazare (21.0 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 3.0 apg) at forwards.
After Saturday’s game, LSU will next play on Wednesday against McNeese State at 7 p.m. at the Maravich Center. The game will be the annual “Pat’s Coats for Kids” contest presented by local meteorologist Pat Shingleton. Fans bringing a new or used coat to donate or a cash donation of $5 will receive a coupon good for a $1 ticket to the game.