GREENSBORO, N.C. — The 20th-ranked LSU men’s basketball team, the champions of the Southeastern Conference, arrived here shortly after 6 p.m. local time to begin final preparations for their first-round NCAA Tournament game with 23rd-ranked Butler scheduled for Thursday at 11:20 a.m. CDT at the Greensboro Coliseum.
LSU enters as the eight seed, while Butler is the nine seed. Both teams won 26 games in the regular season.
The Tigers settled in for a period of stretching with strength coach Juan Pablo Reggiardo and then dinner in the hotel headquarters near the airport before encountering a full day of activity on Wednesday.
The team will meet with the media beginning at 12:50 p.m. EDT with players and Coach Trent Johnson on the podium before taking the court for the public workout that all teams have beginning at 1:30 p.m. The team will then leave the Coliseum after that workout concludes at 2:10 p.m. for another hour workout at a private location in the city.
The team will have video sessions and dinner Wednesday night in the hotel and then be up early on Thursday to have pre-game meal prior to leaving for the Coliseum about two hours prior to tipoff.
The game will be regionally-televised by CBS Sports with lead broadcast crew Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg calling the game. The entire nation will start with the LSU-Butler game before splitting off to two other games that start within the half hour. The game will also be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge) with Jim Hawthorne and Kevin Ford on the call. The contest will also be broadcast on the affiliates of the NCAA Radio Network through Westwood One on a national basis.
The LSU-Butler winner will play the winner of the day’s second game in Greensboro out of the South Regional between No. 1 seed North Carolina and Radford, the 16 seed.