NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After receiving a double bye for the first time in the event since 1979, the LSU men’s basketball team begins play in the Southeastern Conference Tournament Friday afternoon in the second game of the quarterfinals.
LSU’s opponent will be 13th-seed Auburn, a 66-59 winner over fifth-seed Texas A&M in Thursday’s second round. Auburn had defeated Mississippi State in the opening round of the tournament on Wednesday night.
The game is scheduled to tip off 25 minutes after the first game of the afternoon session (approximately 2:30 p.m. CT) at the Bridgestone Arena and will be televised by the SEC Network (Brad Nessler, Sean Farnham and Shannon Spake). The radio broadcast of the game will be available in the GeauxZone at LSUsports.net and on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and studio host Kevin Ford.
LSU enters the tournament 22-9 and 11-7, finishing in a four-way tie for third in the league after the wild events on Saturday that saw the Tigers defeat Arkansas, 81-78, on a last-second jumper by Keith Hornsby and that combined with other results on the day gave the Tigers the fourth seed.
The Tigers are 46 and 54 overall in the long history of the championships and 25-35 since the renewal in 1979. That was the last year that the Tigers last received a double bye as the regular season champion were sent through to the tournament semifinals that year. LSU will be trying to reach the semifinals for the 26th time and the 15th time since the renewal.
Since the renewal of the tournament, LSU won its first game no matter the round, 18 times in 36 years.
The Tiger team arrived in Nashville on Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning joined the other top-four seeds in their 45-minute shoot around times on the Bridgestone Arena court. The team made a short visit to Memorial Gym on the Vanderbilt campus after the Texas A&M-Auburn game to go over the scouting report and walkthrough game plans for Friday’s contest.
The team also took part in an ESPN/SEC Network interview session that will be used during the rest of the weekend for LSU games.
LSU is expected to be back at full strength in its lineup highlighted by the Tigers’ two members of the coaches All-SEC squad: Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey. Martin is averaging 16.9 points per game and 9.0 rebounds a game while Mickey is averaging 16.6 points per game and 9.9 rebounds a game. Mickey missed the Arkansas game last Saturday after taking a hard fall on his shoulder during the second half of the LSU-Tennessee game on March 4.
Mickey is expected to be back on Friday and is expected to be joined by guards Hornsby (13.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg), Jalyn Patterson (6.5 ppg, 2.20 apg) and Tim Quarterman (11.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 4.0 apg).
Auburn (14-19) in its win over A&M, rallied from a 10-point, 33-23, deficit at halftime to outscore the Aggies, 43-26 in the second half. Auburn held A&M to 30 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes and 0-of-10 from the three-point arc. Auburn was led by KT Harrell with 25 points, including 11-of-14 from the free throw line. Cinmeon Bowers added 10 points.
LSU and Auburn split games with Auburn winning, 81-77, in Baton Rouge on Feb. 5, before LSU had a strong second half in an 84-61 win at Auburn on Feb. 24.
Martin averaged 19.5 points and 14.0 rebounds, hitting 18-of-32 field goal attempts, while Mickey averaged 18.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. Mickey made 15-of-22 field goals in the two games with nine blocks. Quarterman averaged 12.5 points in the two games, Hornsby 12 points and Patterson 10.5 points per game.
LSU averaged 80.5 points in the two games, shooting 66-of-130 from the field (50.8 percent), including 11-of-38 treys. In the two games, Auburn shot 46-of-114 from the field, but was +5 at the arc (16-of-45) and +16 at the free throw line (34-44, 77.3 percent).
No.1 Kentucky and Florida meet in the other quarterfinal in LSU’s side of the bracket with the winners to meet in the first semifinal on Saturday afternoon.
For updates on LSU Basketball follow the Tigers at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and on Twitter and Instagram @LSUBasketball.
Coach Johnny Jones met with a group of Baton Rouge media at the team hotel once LSU’s Friday opponent was named. Here are a few of his comments:
On Friday’s matchup with Auburn …
“I think Auburn is a very good basketball team. They are talented, and they certainly have scorers. We were able to see that at home in Baton Rouge where they played extremely well. We were fortunate enough to go back to their home floor where I thought we did a great job defensively. I thought we clicked, and we also played one of our better offensive basketball games. We have split, and we know we will have a tough test in front of us (Friday) afternoon.”
On Auburn’s keys during their two wins at the SEC Tournament …
“They have done a great job of executing. They are a very good defensive basketball team, and I think you were able to see that today against Texas A&M. They were down at the half. I thought they came back out and did a good job on the defensive end of the floor in the second half. They also shot the ball extremely well.”
On Jordan Mickey‘s status for Friday’s game
“Jordan has been able to practice with us the last two days. We don’t know at what level that he will be able to play. We will have a chance to address that once we are out there on the floor. He has been able to do a good job the last couple of days at practice. He has been able to execute and make some plays for us. He certainly will be on the floor for us tomorrow.”
On what tomorrow’s game means for LSU’s NCAA Tournament resume …
“This is the SEC Tournament. At the end of the day, everybody is playing. Auburn is a very good basketball team, and I think they have shown that by being in some close basketball games this year. They have knocked out two teams. They beat Texas A&M today, and Texas A&M was sitting there with a 11-7 record. That shows you how tough, how close and how competitive this league is. Our job is to try to go out and hopefully win this tournament. That means trying to cut down nets on Sunday so whether it is Auburn or the No. 1 ranked team in Kentucky; that is our mission. That is the mission we are on.”
On Josh Gray building off of his performance at Arkansas …
“Josh was not in there because of Jordan’s absence. I think Josh did a tremendous job at the point guard spot. We are hopeful that he will be able to play some quality minutes which he has done for us over the last few weeks. He did really well at Auburn if you remember. I thought he did a great job of coming in and making plays for us. We are hopeful that will be the case for us tomorrow.”
On Greg Sankey being named the SEC Commissioner …
“We’re excited. Anytime you have someone in house that has done a tremendous job and understands everything that is going on in the SEC, he has been there on the ground floor. He has done an exceptional job. I think he will do a great job in taking over for Mike Slive. We’re excited to have him on board in his new position.”
On LSU’s fan support in Nashville…
“We have had a lot of people come up, and we are always excited. We have a tremendous fan base. They have certainly bought into what we are doing. We are excited about the opportunity to go out and play and perform for them tomorrow afternoon.”