STARKVILLE, Miss. — The LSU men’s basketball team takes a four-game winning streak on the road for the final game of the regular season as the Tigers travel here Saturday for a regionally-televised game with Southeastern Conference Western Division champion Mississippi State.
Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. in a game televised by Raycom Sports. The radio broadcasts will be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network, in the “GeauxZone” at LSUsports.net and on the SEC channels of XM Satellite Radio.
LSU (13-16, 6-9) is playing with a lot of confidence and will be looking for an impressive fourth road win in the league since Jan. 31, but this road game will be special in more ways than one because LSU Interim Head Coach Butch Pierre will serve as a head coach for the first time on the floor where he played his college basketball at the school where he received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
“Well, going back to Mississippi State is something special to me,” said Pierre. “I spent six years of my life there at a young age. I was very fortunate to have some accomplishments as a player and a student-athlete by receiving my bachelor’s and master’s degrees there. The most special thing about it is that my twin boys and my daughter have an opportunity to go back to Mississippi State with me. The game will be a challenge for our basketball team and also for me because not only do I represent LSU but I am a product of Mississippi State and I know everyone will be proud to see me coaching this team.”
State is 20-9 and 11-4 in the West and coming off a one-point, 86-85, overtime loss at Vanderbilt in which four players were in double figures for the Bulldogs. Jamont Gordon led Mississippi State with 24 points, while Charles Rhodes had 22 points and 14 rebounds, Jarvis Varnado 16 and Barry Stewart 10.
The Tigers had players with all kinds of contributions in the 80-74 win over Alabama in a game that secured at worst a fourth place finish in the West for the Tigers as LSU enters the Mississippi State game tied for third with Ole Miss pending their game with Georgia on Saturday. LSU will play either the first or last game Thursday in the SEC Tournament in Atlanta depending on the outcome of the LSU-State and Ole Miss-Georgia games.
Anthony Randolph had 29 points and five blocks for LSU, while Marcus Thornton tried to keep pace with 27 points and a season high five assists. Chris Johnson continued his strong play of the last few games with an 11 point-10 rebound double double with seven blocks for the second straight game. Also, Garrett Temple did not put many points on the board but did have a career high eight assists.
“Obviously Mississippi State is a very outstanding team,” said Pierre. “They are one of the better teams in the league and they are the winners of the Western Division. They lost a heartbreaking game on Wednesday night to Vanderbilt. We are going to have our hands full with guarding them.
“One of the things is that our team is really developing and beginning to play with more confidence. We are executing on both ends of the floor. I thought Alabama played one of their better games on the road and I thought we were lucky to win that game at home particularly after giving up 44 points at halftime. Our team is getting better; we had a lot of enthusiasm. It’s going to be a different challenge going up there (to Starkville). Last time we only scored 39 points for the entire ball game. So we are going to have to be able to make some baskets and execute. I think we will go down there and fight and hopefully we will be in a position at the end to have a chance to win.”
The Tigers will play either South Carolina or Georgia on Thursday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta in the first round of the men’s Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament.