BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers look for a second straight win to open the 2008-09 season Thursday as the Tigers play Alcorn State in the final game of the first day of the LSU Invitational at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The five-team round-robin event begins at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday as Troy (0-2) and Centenary (0-2) looking for their first win of the season. The nightcap of the opening day finds LSU (1-0) and Alcorn State (0-2) meeting at 7 p.m.
Each team is guaranteed four-games and the event is spread out over two weekends. Northwestern State (1-1) is the other team in the event and they will make their invitational debut on Friday when there is a two-game afternoon session at 1:30 p.m. as Alcorn takes on Troy followed by Northwestern State and Centenary. The first weekend of the event concludes on Sunday as LSU and Northwestern State meet in a single game at 2 p.m.
All LSU games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM in Baton Rouge) and there will be live audio/video in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net. Tickets for Thursday’s doubleheader and Sunday’s single game are available online at LSUsports.net starting for $5. Friday’s admission when LSU does not play is free. Tickets will go on sale at the upper ticket windows of the Maravich Center at 3:30 p.m. Thursday and 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
The Tigers come into the game off a season-opening 79-65 win over Jackson State on Saturday. Sophomore point guard Bo Spencer had a career-high 21 points in the game, while redshirt junior Chris Tasmin Mitchell (playing his first game since his injury in the third game of the 2007-08 season) and senior Chris Johnson had 17 each.
But what Coach Trent Johnson hopes to see in this first game of the invitational is more intensity from his team than he saw in the opener.
“I was disappointed, and I know they were probably more so than I in terms of our lack of energy in the Jackson State game, but considering it was our first game and expectations on their behalf, it’s probably something you would expect at this time of year,” said the first-year LSU Coach. “For me, it’s something that I really don’t dwell on in terms of the expectations as opposed to us playing the game the right way and competing. It’s like I told them: we went over against Tulane and New Orleans and played them in game-like conditions plus two 10-minute quarters and competed really hard. All of a sudden, we come back over here and turn the lights on. It’s got to be a habit to where you compete regardless of who’s in the stands. Thursday, hopefully there is some carry over because I do believe this basketball team will play like they practice, and hopefully, they understand that now.”
Alcorn State lost at Houston on Tuesday, 110-55, after losing to South Alabama in the team’s opener. The team is averaging nine three-pointers made a game, shooting almost 40 percent from the arc, but struggling in over all field goal percentage and shooting under 50 percent at the free throw stripe. The team is under the direction of first-year coach Larry Smith, a former longtime star in the NBA, a two-time SWAC Player of the Year at Alcorn and a long-time assistant coach in the NBA and WNBA.
“Alcorn State is a very competitive, very quick team, and if they’re anything like their coach, Larry Smith — I know the type of player he was — so we’ll have to be ready to play because they will be very competitive.”
The Alcorn State game is the second of eight-consecutive home games to open LSU’s 100th anniversary men’s basketball season.
As part of the game, all full-time LSU students in attendance will resume Maravich Maniac t-shirts and all fans are invited to visit the Fan Zone for an LSU schedule magnet for men’s basketball. The game will also kick off a set of games that will involve contests involving LSU fraternities and sororities with several prizes for the most participation during the course of the six random games.