NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The LSU Tigers take to the road to face the Vanderbilt Commodores in an 8 p.m. game Wednesday at Vanderbilt’s Memorial Gymnasium.
The game will be televised live on CSS and Cox 4 in the Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette area and on tape delay on Cox Sports TV after the New Orleans Hornets game. The broadcast will also be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge).
LSU is 13-9, 3-5 in the SEC after a 71-65 win over Arkansas in the Maravich Center on Saturday. Vanderbilt, receiving votes in both polls, is coming off road losses at Arkansas (82-74) and Florida (73-65) and has an ESPN Gameday date with Kentucky in Nashville on Saturday. The Commodores are 16-7, 5-3 in the league.
In the Arkansas win, the Tigers got 16 points from Ralston Turner, 13 from Justin Hamilton and 12 from both Anthony Hickey and Eddie Ludwig, who came off the bench to match his career high. Hamilton had his third double double of the season, pulling down 11 rebounds, as did Johnny O’Bryant III.
Hamilton, who is in the top 11 in six SEC statistical categories, leads the Tigers with a 13.5 points per game and a rebound average of 7.4. He is averaging 15.8 points per game in league play.
LSU faces a Vanderbilt team that is outscoring its opponents by 7.8 points and shooting 46.6 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from the three-point range in SEC play. John Jenkins is averaging 19.7 points per game overall, and the league’s top scorer in league games only is Jeffery Taylor at 18.1.
“Vanderbilt is very talented, very experienced and very skilled. For me, I am not so sure anybody has played as tough of a schedule as they have,” said LSU Coach Trent Johnson. “I don’t think people realize how good of a basketball team a Cleveland State is, or a Middle Tennessee is. When you start looking at those scores and see that Vandy got beat by one of them early (Cleveland State) and Middle Tennessee played them really close late, I don’t think people realize. They can play fast, and they can play slow. The thing that probably impresses me the most is that they don’t get enough credit for their mental and physical toughness. Does this challenge for us come at the right time? I think so. We were very fragile going into the Arkansas game, and I felt that we found a way to win. We had some guys make some plays. It is a good time for us to go back out on the road. We’ve gotten close to getting it done.”
Also playing well for the Tigers in SEC play is Hickey, who is shooting 50 percent in SEC games, 37-of-74, and 15-of-34 from beyond the arc. He leads all SEC freshmen in assist average (4.13) in the first eight SEC games. O’Bryant is second in SEC-game rebounding average among freshmen at 8.0 a game.
Vandy has won the last six in the series with LSU’s last win at the SEC Tournament in 2006. The Commodores have a 59-47 lead overall with a 36-14 advantage in Nashville.
The Tigers return home on Saturday for the first of two games at the Maravich Center with LSU hosting Alabama at 6 p.m. in a game televised by ESPN2. It is the “Gold Game” and fans are encouraged to wear gold and there will be 7,500 golf t-shirts distributed to the fans. LSU also plays next Tuesday at home against Mississippi State in an 8 p.m. game on ESPNU. Tickets for both games are available online at www.LSUtix.net.
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