COLUMBIA, S.C. — The LSU men’s basketball team returned to practice in Baton Rouge Monday ready to begin another week of play and the intensity of the practice showed that LSU is ready to try to claim a third road SEC win of the season here Wednesday night against the University of South Carolina.
Game time for LSU and USC is set for 6:30 p.m. CST (7:30 p.m. EST) at the Colonial Center. There is no television for the contest but the radio broadcast will be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network, in the “Geaux Zone” at LSUsports.net and on the SEC channels of XM Satellite Radio.
The Tigers are 10-16 and 3-9 entering the final two weeks of the regular season, coming off a 69-49 win over Ole Miss Saturday in Baton Rouge, the team’s first win at home in SEC play. South Carolina is 12-14 overall, 4-8 in SEC play. South Carolina is coming off two consecutive losses, losing to Florida in Gainesville (82-85) and losing in Columbia in overtime to Mississippi State, 61-56.
Both teams have struggled at times finishing games with the Gamecocks losing four games this season that they were winning in the final minute, while LSU is 2-6 in games decided by five points or less.
Saturday against Ole Miss, Marcus Thornton led LSU with 17 points while both Anthony Randolph and Chris Johnson posted double double numbers with Randolph getting15 points and 11 boards and Johnson getting 12 points and a career high 15 rebounds.
The game features two of the top scorers in the Southeastern Conference with Thornton averaging 18.3 points per game and the league’s leading scorer, Devan Downey, a sophomore from Chester, S. C. who averages 19.7 a game. Downey and the Tigers are slightly familiar with each other as Downey played on the Cincinnati team that knocked off LSU on the final night of the Las Vegas Classic in December 2005.
“We played a good game against Ole Miss. We were able to improve after that big loss at Arkansas, so we are looking forward to playing South Carolina,” said LSU interim Head Coach Butch Pierre. “We had great practices and the team was very focused prior to the Ole Miss game compared to our practices prior to the Arkansas game so we are trying to keep that same focus going into this game.”
South Carolina is coached by Dave Odom in his seventh season at Carolina. He will retire at the end of the year after 22 years as a head coach at East Carolina, Wake Forest and South Carolina. His Wake Forest team won one and his South Carolina team won back-to-back NIT championships during his tenures.
LSU will return home after this game for a 1 p.m. Sunday game televised by Raycom Sports against the University of Georgia. It will be the next to last home game for the Tigers who also host Alabama on March 5. Tickets for Sunday’s game are available online at LSUsports.net for $14 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 3-12). Also it is Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency organ awareness day at the game and all registered organ donors may purchase tickets for just $5.