AUBURN, Ala. – The LSU men’s basketball team will try to continue its improved play of late when they travel to Auburn Saturday for a 6 p.m. game with the Auburn Tigers in the next-to-last game to be played in the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
It was LSU and Auburn that played the first game in the Coliseum when it opened in Jan. 11, 1969. The building will be replaced by the new Auburn Arena that will seat some 9,600.
The game will be televised regionally by Fox Sports Net and broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger) and in the GeauxZone at LSUsports.net.
LSU has made the progression in the last three weeks from a strong start-to-finish effort at Vanderbilt, to a heart-breaking last-second loss to Mississippi State, to a strong at times dominating win over Arkansas this past Wednesday. Now comes the next step for Coach Trent Johnson and LSU – how will the team react to the first win and will they be able to continue to move forward from that game against the Auburn Tigers.
One of the keys to LSU success as of late has been use of the zone defense by the Tigers, but it again as Coach Johnson points out is part of the season progression.
“Well, whether it’s a zone or man, I think we are a lot better just because of our intensity and our effort,” said Johnson “Getting to shooters, proper closeouts, things that are just repetition over and over again, with a young and inexperienced team is just a matter of time before they figure it out. We’re a lot better in the zone, and I think a lot of that has to do with our intensity and maximum effort.”
LSU is 9-17 overall and 1-12 in the league, while Auburn is 13-15 and 4-9 in the SEC. Auburn is coming off an 85-75 loss at Ole Miss on Wednesday.
The last time the two teams met in mid-January, Auburn was an 84-80 winner, using a late 10-0 run to secure the game. Tasmin Mitchell had a big game for LSU with 38 points and enters the game on Saturday needing just one point to have sole possession of third all-time on the LSU scoring list. He is at 1,942 points tied with Howard Carter. He also needs one rebound to hold seventh in total rebounds.
Mitchell is just 58 points shy of 2,000 career points as he tries to become the third player in LSU history to score 2,000 career points in LSU history.
The Tigers close the regular season with a road game next Thursday at Ole Miss and then will host senior night activities for Mitchell and Alex Farrer at the Maravich Center on Saturday, March 6, prior to the 4 p.m. game with Georgia. Tickets for that game are available at www.LSUtix.net.