OXFORD, Miss. – The LSU men’s basketball team played plenty of basketball the first week of Southeastern Conference play and now head on the road for the second time in league play to take on the Ole Miss Rebels here Wednesday night at the Tad Smith Coliseum.
The game is set for 6 p.m. as the first of two league games broadcast Wednesday night on the SEC Network (Dave Neal, Jon Sundvold) with the radio broadcast available in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net and the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and Kevin Ford).
Affiliates carrying the game include the following: 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).
LSU is 12-3 on the season, 1-1 in the SEC after an overtime loss at Missouri and a double overtime win at home last Saturday versus Georgia (87-84). Ole Miss (10-5, 1-1) lost on the road at Kentucky in overtime in the league opener before coming home Saturday to take down South Carolina, 65-49.
The Tigers will be looking to stop a trend of late in a series that dates back over 100 years with this being the 205th game the two teams have played. That trend is that Ole Miss has won seven-of-its-last eight meetings with LSU, including four straight at the “Tad Pad” including last year’s 88-74 win in overtime on Jan. 15, 2014.
The Tigers made a rally from nine down in the first overtime against Georgia to get it to a second overtime and eventually take the three-point decision to run LSU’s record at the Maravich Center this year to 9-0. Tim Quarterman, who was the NCAA.com national basketball player of the week, hit six treys and led the rally in overtime with 27 points. Jordan Mickey had 17 points and Josh Gray and Jalyn Patterson had 15 each.
It marked the first time that LSU has played back-to-back overtime games since December 2010 and the first time in SEC play second February 1984 when Lsu defeated Georgia and Tennessee in extra time.
Quarterman is averaging 12.7 points per game and is expected to come off the bench as he has for 12 games this year. Gray (9.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Keith Hornsby (12.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.3 apg) will start at guards with Mickey (15.9 ppg, 10.6 rpg-2nd in the SEC), Jarell Martin (16.8 ppg-3rd in the SEC, 8.6 rpg) and John Odo (1.5 ppg, 1.4 rpg) expected to start again for LSU.
Coach Andy Kennedy, in his ninth year at Ole Miss, doesn’t have the prolific scorer and shot taker Marshall Henderson around this year, but he has plenty of talent and three double figure scorers in his expected starting lineup.
Guards Ladarius White (12.3 ppg), Stefan Moody (14.8 ppg) and Jarvis Summers (14.4 ppg, 3.7 apg), all post double figure numbers and Moody had 25 points and five treys in the loss to No. 1 Kentucky while Summers scored 20 in the win over South Carolina and is averaging 20.3 points over the last four games.
Also, the Rebels lead the nation in free throw percentage, hitting 79.1 percent, including 104-of-their last 123 (84.6%).
“After a tough setback at Missouri, I thought our guys had a great bounce back game on Saturday against a very tough Georgia basketball team,” said LSU Coach Johnny Jones. “We look forward to the same type of challenges this week on the road against a very experienced Ole Miss basketball team. They have a lot of returning players from last year. With the addition of (Stefan) Moody, those guys have done a tremendous job of competing at a certain level during this early part of the season. We know we have our work cut out for us. They certainly present a great challenge for us, and we look forward to that on Wednesday night.”
“I have always felt that (Jarvis) Summers was the heartbeat of their team. As solid as he is, the sense of urgency and toughness that he plays with … The different look right now is the newcomer (Stefan Moody) that they have that did take a lot of those (Henderson-type) shots and played so well against Kentucky the other night gives them the feel of Henderson. He’s a very capable scorer that can make shots. They have done a great job of continuing to defend and rebound. They are really playing well together.”
LSU returns home after Wednesday night’s game for an 11 a.m. contest at the Maravich Center against Texas A&M. The Aggies are at home against Mississippi State Tuesday night in its mid-week contest.
Follow updates on the game and LSU Basketball at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball , on Twitter and Instagram @LSUBasketball and on the LSU Basketball app on IPad.