BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team returns to play after a week off, hosting the Ole Miss Rebels in a Saturday afternoon Southeastern Conference game at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
It is “Reunion Saturday” at the PMAC as members of the 1981-1986 LSU NCAA Final Four teams will be on hand to sign autographs beginning at 11:15 a.m. and then the teams will be introduced at halftime.
Tip time for the Tigers and Rebels is 12:47 p.m. with the game regionally televised on the SEC Network with the game televised on the following Louisiana affiliates: Alexandria – KLAX; Baton Rouge – WAFB; Lafayette – KADN; Lake Charles – KVHP; New Orleans – WUPL; and, Shreveport – KMSS.
The radio broadcast will be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (WTGE New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge).
Tickets are available online at www.LSUtix.net and on game day tickets will be available at the upper concourse ticket windows at the PMAC beginning at 11 a.m.
The Tigers are 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference and 10-8 overall, having had a week off since last Saturday’s loss at Kentucky. Prior to that the Tigers scored league wins at Auburn and at home against Arkansas, the first of just two home games in January for LSU. Ole Miss, coming off an 84-74 loss at Vanderbilt Wednesday, is 12-7 overall and 0-4 in the SEC West.
Coach Trent Johnson announced at his Thursday media session that freshman guard Ralston Turner will be out for a fourth straight game with the stress reaction in the right foot. Junior forward Storm Warren has not practiced since practice resumed on Tuesday (tendonitis in right Achilles) but is expected to dress for the game Saturday.
Johnson also announced that with the matchup Garrett Green will make his third start of the season at forward. The junior, who is the team’s leading scorer at 13 points per game, will be joined by Malcolm White, an Ole Miss transfer, at the other forward position. Green will replace Eddie Ludwig, based on “matchups” according to Johnson.
Andre Stringer, from Jackson, Miss., will be joined by Matt Derenbecker and Aaron Dotson at the guards.
Coach Johnson and the Tigers players are wary of the Rebels despite their slow start in the West.
“We are playing a very, very good basketball team,” Johnson said. “Their record means nothing to me and nothing to us as a team. This is a team (Ole Miss) going into the year that was favored to win the SEC west. Talent-wise they are probably one of the most talented teams in our league. Chris Warren, without question, is one of the better players and better guards in our league, not to mention one of the better guards in the country. He can dictate a game and control a game by himself, so we need to play as well as we have played all year.”
The Tigers will be on the road next week in the league playing at Knoxville on Wednesday (7 p.m., SEC Network) and at Alabama on Jan. 29 (7 p.m., FSN). LSU’s next home game is Wednesday, Feb. 2 against South Carolina.
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