SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The LSU men’s basketball team went through their final preparations here Sunday for Monday’s second-round National Invitation Tournament contest with the University of Utah at the Jon Huntsman Center.
The game will tip at 7:05 p.m. MT (8:05 p.m. in Baton Rouge) and will be nationally televised on ESPNU with Ted Emrich and Mark Wise on the call. As usual, the “Voice of the Tigers” Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady will be on hand for the radio broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network (including flagship Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge).
Utah drew 3,452 for its opening NIT game with UC Davis on Wednesday and hosts as the No. 2 seed in the pod against the third-seeded Tigers. The winner of the LSU-Utah game meets the winner of the game that follows LSU-Utah in California between No. 1 seed St. Mary’s and No. 5 Washington. That game will be played on Wednesday and St. Mary’s will host either team with a win Monday night while Washington would travel to the LSU-Utah winner.
The Tigers won its opening round game of the event, 84-76, against Louisiana-Lafayette and Utah rallied from 11-points down with head coach Larry Krystkowiak ejected for arguing a call early in the game, to win 69-59 over UC Davis.
LSU practiced Sunday at Westminster College, home of the Griffins, a school looking to move from NAIA to NCAA D2 and the Rocky Mountain Conference. The team is expected to be fully admitted this fall as serving its three-year provisionary membership. As An NAIA school, Westminster went to 12 NAIA National Tourneys, the last in 2014.
The Tigers (18-14) worked on several block out and positioning drills before getting into the scouting report on Utah (20-11).
LSU will be trying to win two games in the NIT for the first time since 1970 in its eight appearances. The Tigers split in game in their last NIT in 2014, winning at San Francisco and losing at SMU. This is Utah’s second straight NIT and 14th overall. Utah is 3-2 in games hosted at Huntsman in the NIT.
Utah in its win on Wednesday was led by Justin Bibbins who scored a game-high 21 points, going 5-of-11 from the field with a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Tyler Rawson chipped in 11 points (9 rebounds), and Donnie Tillman added 11 points.
Bibbins averages 14.8 points a game to lead the Utes, while David Collette is at 12.7 points and Sedrick Barefield scores at 11.2 a contest. Tyler Rawson averages 10.6 a game to round out their double figure scorers.
The Tigers are expected to keep their same lineup as the opening NIT game with Tremont Waters, Brandon Sampson and Daryl Edwards at guards with Duop Reath and Aaron Epps at forward. Skylar Mays, playing with a broken bone in his right wrist, came off the bench to play 31 minutes and score 11 points against UL-Lafayette and will be a game time decision as to whether he would start of not.
Waters, who had surgery on his nose on Monday, wore the mask again on Sunday and is expected to wear the mask in the game. Waters leads the team in scoring at 15.8 points per game and 5.9 assists a contest. Reath comes in at 12.7 points a game and Mays is scoring at an 11.2 points pace.
“(Utah is) a very good ball club,” Coach Will Wade said at his Friday media session. “Very good defensively. They are number one in the Pac-12 in FG percentage defense and scoring defense. That is hard to do. They mix their defense. They play man, matchup zone, and regular zone. Very well coached, very good team. The big kid (David) Collette, the transfer, is a good player. They have a versatile four man, number 21 (Tyler Rawson), who is going to be very difficult for us to guard. We haven’t been able to guard those types all year. The point guard (Justin) Bibbins is a transfer from Long Beach State. He is small and very quick. He is an All-Pac-12 performer. They got a three man, number 30 (Gabe Bealer), who can make shots. Their two man, number five (Parker Van Dyke), who can make shots. They are a good team. They don’t compare to anybody that I have seen. There is no easy comparison in the SEC to what they do or how they play. They are a good ball club and it will be a big challenge for us, especially on the road.”
Ironically, both present Coach Wade and former LSU coach Brady, now on the LSU radio broadcast, know Salt Lake City pretty well. Wade came here last year with his VCU team for an NCAA Tournament contest, while Brady’s Tigers in 2000 won against Southeast Missouri State and Texas en route to the Sweet 16 in games played at the Huntsman Center.
LSU is 2-3 in the Huntsman Center with losses to Dayton in an NCAA first-round game in 1984 and then losses in 2005 and 2009 to Utah. The Utes lead the series with the Tigers, 3-1, winning the three previous meetings.
Both teams exceeded their predictions for the season as the Tigers were picked to finish last in the SEC, but finished in a tie for ninth and advanced to post-season play, turning last year’s 2 league wins into 8 and last year’s 10 wins into 18. Utah was picked seventh in the Pac-12 and finished in a tie for third.
Updates on Monday’s game and all things LSU Basketball can be found at www.facebook.com/LSUBasketball and on Twitter @LSUBasketball.
NIT SECOND ROUND
DATE, TIME (CT), TV, MATCHUP
March 17, 11 a.m., ESPN, (4) Penn State 73, (1) Notre Dame 63
March 18, 11 a.m., ESPN, (4) Mississippi State 78, (1) Baylor 77
March 18, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2, (2) Marquette 101, (3) Oregon 92
March 18, 5:30 p.m., ESPN2, (2) Louisville 84, (3) Middle Tennessee 68
March 19, 6 p.m., ESPNU, (3) Stanford at (2) Oklahoma State
March 19, 8 p.m., ESPNU, (3) LSU at (2) Utah
March 19, 10 p.m., ESPNU, (5) Washington at (1) Saint Mary’s
March 19, 10:30 p.m., ESPN2, (4) Western Kentucky at (1) USC