COLUMBIA, Mo. – And so it begins for the LSU men’s basketball team.
Eighteen games. Eighteen tests. A journey of nine weeks.
LSU travels here on Thursday night to open the conference season at Mizzou Arena against the Missouri Tigers. It will be LSU’s second trip to the Arena in three years, having lost here late in Coach Johnny Jones‘ first season as LSU coach.
LSU is 11-2 entering the opening fray, while Missouri is 6-7 on the year under first-year Coach Kim Anderson, who led Central Missouri to the Division II national championship last year.
The game is set for just after 6 p.m. on ESPN2 with Rich Hollenberg and Sean Farnham on the call for the network’s final game of the league’s opening set of games which began on Tuesday. The radio broadcast will also be available in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net and on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with Jim Hawthorne and Ricky Blanton courtside and studio host Kevin Ford.
The game will be carried by these affiliates: Baton Rouge, WDGL (98.1 FM); Alexandria, KSYL (970 AM); Bogalusa, WBOX (92.9 FM); Ferriday, KFNV (107.1 FM); Houma, KJIN (1490 AM); Jena, KJNA (102.7 FM); Lafayette/Opelousas, KLWB (103.7 FM); Lake Charles, KXZZ (1580 AM); Leesville, KJAE (93.5 FM); Monroe, KMLB (540 AM); Morgan City, KFRA (1390 MA); Natchitoches, KWLV (107.1 FM); New Orleans, WWL (870 AM, 105.3 FM); Ruston, KRUS (1490 AM); Shreveport, KWKH (1130 AM); Tallulah, KTJZ (97.5
FM); Tylertown, Mississippi, WFCG (107.3 FM); Ville Platte, KVPI (1050 AM).
Coach Jones looked ahead to the journey at his media session on Tuesday.
“We understand that the season is a journey for us,” he said. “Each game is certainly a challenge. We talk about the season being chapters and where do we stand. That chapter of the non-conference portion of our schedule, it’s closed. This is the next chapter that we’ve got to really prepare for. It is conference play and how we will fare in it and what it will say about our basketball team at the end. That’s our approach, and we have to make sure that we take it one game at a time. We will know more about our preparedness and our readiness after these first two games – one will be on the road and the other will be here at home against a very tough opponent. It’s something we look forward to.
“We feel that we are prepared because of the non-conference schedule we’ve played, but we certainly understand that it is a journey. The next stop on that journey will be at Missouri, and we feel as if we are certainly prepared for that.”
LSU has won eight straight games since returning from a 1-2 visit to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam and Coach Jones has now won 50 games in this his third year at LSU. The Tigers defeated Savannah State, 75-59, last time out. LSU recorded 50-plus points in the paint for the second straight time (4th overall) and continued to distribute the ball well with an assists-to-made-baskets percentage of 66.9% over the last four contests.
The Tigers are led by the “M and M” sophomore combo of Jarell Martin (league leading 18.2 ppg, 8.9 rpg) and Jordan Mickey (16.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg-2nd in SEC). Mickey has blocked 25 shots in the last four games and leads the league and is third in the nation in blocked shot average. Point guard Josh Gray had his best game distributing the basketball against Savannah State with eight assists.
Missouri is led by Johnathan Williams III who averages 13.5 points per game and 6.8 rebounds. The sophomore has averaged 17.1 points and 9.0 rebounds over the last seven games. Montague Gill-Caesar, a freshman guard, averages 11.5 points per game.
Mizzou defeated Lipscomb in its last out, 72-60, to stop a three game losing streak.
LSU leads the series, 3-1, 2-1 since Missouri joined the SEC. The other win came in a Sweet 16 game in Houston in the 1980 NCAA Tournament.
LSU will return home to face Georgia on Saturday night at 8 p.m. Tickets for the game are available at the LSU Athletic Ticket Office and online at LSUtix.net.
Follow updates of Thursday’s game at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball, on Twitter @LSUBasketball and on the LSU Basketball App for Ipads.