SEATTLE — The LSU men’s basketball team, one morning removed from their 60-53 non-conference victory over Oregon State Sunday night at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, took a 4 1/2-hour bus journey Monday morning to get ready for their next encounter.
The Tigers arrived in Seattle shortly after 1 p.m. PST, had lunch and then watched video of their game against Oregon State before going to “The Annex” the new practice facility of the Bank of America Arena at Edmundson Pavilion, site of Wednesday night’s game with No. 17 Washington. That game will be nationally-televised by FSN at 9:30 p.m. CST with the radio broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network and in the “Geaux Zone powered by USAgencies” at www.LSUsports.net.
The Tigers also got in a weight lifting session after practice before going to a local restaurant for dinner. The team is scheduled to work out Tuesday in the main arena.
On the bus ride to Seattle, the team learned they remained the same spot in both polls, No. 12 in AP and No. 15 in the ESPN/USA Today poll. Their opponent, Washington, also remained at No. 17 in both polls.
UCLA remains No. 1 in both polls, with North Carolina moving up as the new No. 2. Pittsburgh, after losing to Wisconsin Saturday, has dropped to No. 7 in both polls. From the SEC, Florida is No. 4 in the coaches’ poll and No. 5 in the media AP poll, while Alabama is 10th in both polls.
Martin On The Way
In other notes, the wait for Terry Martin is no longer in Baton Rouge but at the Seattle-Tacoma airport where Martin was supposed to arrive sometime around 9 p.m. PST on a flight from Dallas. Martin left Baton Rouge at mid-afternoon Central Time after getting his grades posted and certified, thus completing his one year in residency at LSU after transferring from Texas Tech.
Martin, a 6-6 guard who will have two and a half years of eligibility remaining for the Tigers, played 14 games as a freshman at Texas Tech in the fall of 2005, starting eight before moving back to his home state. The Monroe, La., native averaged 7.4 points per game, 3.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, playing an average of 24.7 minutes for the Red Raiders … Martin made 38 percent of his three-point attempts (16-of-42) and had six double figure scoring games.
Martin will not have practiced with the team since Friday when he joins the squad for Tuesday’s practice, but is expected to dress and be available for the first time on Wednesday
The Lineup
When Coach John Brady went with a lineup of Tack Minor and Garrett Temple at guards and Tasmin Mitchell, Magnum Rolle and Glen Davis at forwards, it marked the third different starting lineup Coach John Brady has used. Last season the Tigers used three starting lineups the entire 36-game season.
The lineup was put in place after Dameon Mason missed three days of practice because of migraine headaches and Darnell Lazare continued to work himself back into the game after missing time with a left ankle sprain. Mason played six minutes off the bench with one assist and one point against Oregon State, while Lazare had three points, three rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes against the Beavers.
Both practiced on Monday with the Tigers in Seattle.
A Special Brady Radio Show
Because of the West Coast trip and the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, John Brady‘s normal Monday night radio show is in the midst of a three-week hiatus. But the show, sponsored by Whitney Bank, will return with a special edition on Friday, Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. at Walk-On’s serving as a pre-game pep rally for LSU’s game with Connecticut the next night at the Maravich Center.
Plans are currently underway for the show and details will be announced in the next several days. Tickets for the Connecticut game and all remaining LSU home games are available at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at www.LSUsports.net.
Odds and Ends
While Oregon State made 11-of-21 threes against the Tigers, the Beavers were just 8-of-37 from inside the arc … LSU was 7-of-22 from outside the arc, but 14-of-30 in the two-point range … Davis’ fourth consecutive 20-point game against OSU (12/17) made for the longest string of consecutive 20-point games since Jaime Lloreda did it in four games in the final game of the 2003 season and the first three games of the 2004 season … Garrett Temple played all the minutes for fourth consecutive game Sunday (165 of 165) and he leads the league in minutes played average at 37.75 minutes per game … Davis remains second in the league in both scoring and rebounding as he is now averaging over 20 points (20.1) and 10 rebounds (10.3) a game … In the new NCAA stats released late Monday night, Davis is 29th in the country in scoring average and 11th in the nation in rebound average … LSU is 10th in the country in FG percentage defense, holding opponents to 35.9 percent a game.
The Tigers after the Washington game will take an overnight flight home to Baton Rouge, arriving back early Thursday morning … There is still one game prior to a brief Christmas break as LSU will host Louisiana Tech in a 3 p.m. game on Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center … LSU will put its 63-game winning streak on the line against Louisiana schools … LSU will then host the Hispanic College Fund Classic Dec. 27, 28 and 29 … LSU’s games each night will start at 7:30 p.m., following a 5 p.m. first game.
Week 7 AP Top 25
1. UCLA (68) 9-0 1,796
2. North Carolina (1) 8-1 1,710
3. Ohio State (3) 9-1 1,654
4. Wisconsin 11-1 1,507
5. Florida 9-2 1,428
6. Duke 9-1 1,367
7. Pittsburgh 10-1 1,340
8. Wichita State 8-0 1,275
9. Arizona 8-1 1,186
10. Alabama 9-1 1,173
11. Kansas 8-2 1,117
12. LSU 6-2 954
13. Texas A&M 9-2 893
14. Connecticut 9-0 875
15. Oklahoma State 11-0 808
16. Butler 11-1 600
17. Washington 8-1 569
18. Memphis 8-2 481
19. Marquette 10-2 473
20. Notre Dame 8-1 411
21. Oregon 10-0 370
22. Gonzaga 9-3 279
23. Syracuse 9-2 200
24. Air Force 11-1 193
25. Nevada 9-1 142
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Texas 115, Missouri State 90, Clemson 74, Tennessee 45, Boston College 42, Virginia 39, Florida State 35, Maryland 34, Georgia 33, Georgetown 23, Michigan State 22, Purdue 9, Washington State 8, Kentucky 6, Missouri 5, Michigan 5, Southern Illinois 3, Georgia Tech 3, Illinois 3, Dayton 3, Army 1, Texas Tech 1.
Week 7 ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. UCLA (29) 9-0 772
2. North Carolina 8-1 732
3. Ohio State (2) 9-1 722
4. Florida 9-2 620
5. Wisconsin 11-1 615
6. Duke 9-1 592
7. Pittsburgh 10-1 560
8. Wichita State 8-0 518
9. Arizona 8-1 501
10. Alabama 9-1 499
11. Connecticut 9-0 493
12. Kansas 8-2 437
13. Texas A&M 9-2 366
14. Oklahoma State 11-0 320
15. LSU 6-2 319
16. Butler 11-1 300
17. Washington 8-1 288
18. Memphis 8-2 223
19. Air Force 11-1 207
20. Nevada 9-1 168
21. Marquette 10-2 130
22. Clemson 10-0 117
23. Oregon 10-0 116
24. Gonzaga 9-3 108
25. Michigan State 10-2 87
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Notre Dame 57, Missouri State 44, Syracuse 41, Texas 32, Maryland 32, Southern Illinois 10, Illinois 9, Georgetown 8, Washington State 8, UNLV 6, Dayton 5, Boston College 3, Mississippi State 2, Florida State 2, Georgia 2, Missouri 1, Tennessee 1, Purdue 1, West Virginia 1.