BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team, having won seven consecutive games by holding opponents under 60 points, puts its streak on the line Monday night at 6 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against nationally-ranked Virginia.
The 10-3 Tigers have not lost since a Nov. 23 loss to South Alabama, while Virginia is on a 10-game winning streak. The 12-1 Cavaliers are presently ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll coming into the release of a new poll on Monday afternoon.
The 6 p.m. tilt will be televised regionally on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast and on COX4 in the Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette area. The game will be shown on a tape delay basis on Cox Sports TV at approximately 11 p.m. following the New Orleans Hornets telecast.
Tickets for the game are available online at www.LSUtix.net and on Monday prior to the game beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Center. Tickets start at $10 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 3-12).
This will be the second ranked team LSU has faced at home this season, having a 67-59 win over No. 10 Marquette back on Dec. 19. The Tigers come in off a 69-37 win over Grambling on Thursday, while Virginia beat Towson, 57-50, on Friday in Charlottesville.
“Virginia is a very, very good basketball team,” said LSU Coach Trent Johnson earlier in the week at his media session. “They’re very efficient offensively and defensively. Mike Scott who did not play last year when we played them in Virginia, is a double double every game out. He’s a special player. Obviously, he’s a fifth year senior, but he’s strong, he’s skilled and he can score in and he can score out. Make no mistake about it, this is not a one-man team. For us defensively, we’re going to have to be at our best. This is a team that can play on the half court and can play on the full court in terms of running with opportunities.”
Scott, averages 16.3 points and 9.0 rebounds a game as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s active leader in points, rebounds and double-doubles Guard Joe Harris is the other expected starter in double figures at 12.9 points per game. Harris has scored in double figures in 11 of 13 games this season.
LSU has gone with the same lineup for the past five games since Andre Stringer was sidelined after fainting in practice prior to the Dec. 10 game with Boise State.
Anthony Hickey (8.8 ppg, 4.1 apg, 2.6 spg) and Ralston Turner (10.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg) are at guards with Eddie Ludwig (2.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg) and Johnny O’Bryant III (8.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg) at forwards and Justin Hamilton (11.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg) at center.
Stringer has returned to practice this week after being cleared for practice and Stringer was scheduled for his first 5-on-5 work Saturday. His return is still on a day-to-day basis. He leads the team in scoring 12.1 points per game.
Tony Bennett is in his third season as the head coach at Virginia after three years at Washington State.
The Tigers lost 64-50 last year at Charlottesville in the first half of the home-and-home series.
The game concludes the non-conference portion of the LSU season before the Tigers open conference play on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. at home against Ole Miss. Follow LSU Basketball on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and Twitter @LSUbasketball or LSUCoachJohnson.