ATHENS, Ga. — The LSU men’s basketball team looks to hold on to their lead in the SEC Wednesday night when they travel here to take on the Georgia Bulldogs in a Southeastern Conference men’s basketball game.
The Tigers (17-4, 5-1) take on Georgia (9-12, 0-6) at 6:30 p.m. CST at Stegeman Coliseum. There is no television for the game, but the contest will be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge) and in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net.
The Tigers entered the week one game ahead of Mississippi State in the Western Division and one-half game up on three teams for the overall lead in the league. Georgia will play at home for the first time since the firing of Dennis Felton as head coach and it will be the second game that Interim Head Coach Pete Hermann has been at the helm. Hermann and the Bulldogs fell, 75-70, Saturday at Alabama, while LSU was a 10-point, 79-69, winner over Arkansas at the Maravich Center in the school’s Centennial Game.
But LSU Coach Trent Johnson realizes this can be a very dangerous Georgia team that will be looking to defend its home court on Wednesday.
“One of our concerns about Georgia is from the standpoint of their strength and physicality,” the Coach said Monday during his pre-game media session. “Looking at (Georgia) on videotape and watching the Alabama game (vs. Georgia this past Saturday), (Georgia is) really strong in the post and on the perimeter. Obviously, everybody is aware of the situation with coach Hermann taking over … but with a game under their belts, those kids have had the opportunity to settle down, and coach Hermann has been a head coach before.”
Hermann coached six years as the head coach at the Naval Academy including one year with center David Robinson on the team when he led the Midshipman to 26 wins and an NCAA tournament berth.
The Tigers have won its last two road SEC games as part of five straight SEC wins, with road triumphs at Ole Miss and Tennessee, having scored at least 79 points in all five games.
“For us, it’s the same old story,” said Johnson. “We need to concentrate on the things we have been doing. I think our guys and our staff are a little disappointed in our inability to take care of the ball in the second half at crucial times. After reviewing the tape, it had a lot to do with us being careless and not being strong with the ball, but at this point in time, there is nothing defensively or offensively that we shouldn’t be prepared for. We’ve got to get some guys healthy, get some guys through some injuries, get ready to go to Athens and compete at a high level.”
Despite some nagging injuries there is no reason to believe that the lineup for the 22nd consecutive game will be the guard trio of Bo Spencer, Marcus Thornton and Garrett Temple with Tasmin Mitchell at forward and Chris Johnson at center. Johnson has been strong of late with back-to-back double doubles and Thornton went over the 1,000-career point mark in the first three minutes of the win over Arkansas.
The Tigers will have an extra day on the back end of this week to get ready as LSU will not play again until Sunday at noon when its host Alabama in the second meeting of the two teams this season. The game will be regionally televised by Raycom Sports and tickets are available online at LSUsports.net. and at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office.