BATON ROUGE – One of the most important home non-conference games in over a decade will be played Friday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center when undefeated and nationally-ranked Furman comes calling for a 7 p.m. CT tipoff.
The Paladins are 12-0 and ranked No. 24 in the AP media poll and No. 25 in the USA Today coaches’ poll. Furman also comes into town having won its last eight true road contests. They were the first team in the country to reach 12 wins and is one of only nine unbeaten teams remaining in NCAA Division I.
Tickets for the game are available online at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office through Friday at 5 p.m. and online at LSUtix.net. It is a buy one, get one free ticket night for the Tigers and those tickets can be purchased online or at the upper concourse box office of the arena beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
The first 500 fans will receive a free quesadilla and drink at the Fuzzy’s Taco Shop stand located by portal U in the Maravich Center. Also, a limited number of 2019 Fiesta Bowl posters will be available at the main entrances of the Maravich Center while supplies last.
LSU students are admitted free with a valid student ID.
The game will be streamed online on SEC Network+ with Lyn Rollins and Victor Howell on the call.
The radio broadcast of the game will be available on LSUsports.net/live along with affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady (Affiliates include flagship Eagle 98.1 FM in BR and WWL in New Orleans).
The Tigers (8-3) have won the last two times they have faced a ranked team in a November-December game in the Maravich Center. The last time a ranked team was in Baton Rouge at this point of the season was Dec. 5, 2006 when then No. 9 LSU defeated No. 6 Texas A&M (when they were not part of the SEC), 64-52.
Before that game, the previous ranked team in the building was No. 1 Arizona, which lost to the Tigers, 66-65, on Dec. 21, 2002.
LSU is coming off a 78-74 win over Saint Mary’s on Saturday night in Las Vegas with Tremont Waters coming off the bench to log 30 minutes and score 18 points. Emmitt Williams had 15 points and Naz Reid and Skylar Mays had 14 points each. LSU was 22-of-25 at the line in a second straight game that was at times dominated by free throw shooting, making 13-of-15 in the second half, including crucial free throws down the stretch.
Furman in 12 games has taken 354 three-pointers, including 46 in a 93-50 win Saturday over UNCW. The team has taken 766 total shots, making 372 (48.6 percent). LSU has taken 652 making 314 (48.2 percent).
Furman was led by Clay Mounce with six three-pointers in a 26-point, 10 rebound, 5 assist game, while Jordan Lyons had 16 points, Alex Hunter 14 and Matt Rafferty 13 points and 11 rebounds. Furman posted 53 second half points against UNCW, making 21-of-37 field goals (56.8%), including nine treys.
The Tigers also shot well against SMC in the second half of their game, making 16-of-29 for 55.2 percent.
It is expected that the Tigers will keep the lineup that served them well on Saturday at Saint Mary’s with Marlon Taylor moving into one of the guard spots with Mays and Ja’vonte Smart with Kavell Bigby-Williams and Reid at the forwards.
Mays leads the team with a 13.3 points per game scoring average, while Reid is at 12.4, Waters at 11.9 and Smart at 11.2 points a game.
After Friday’s contest, the Tigers have one non-conference game left on Dec. 28 against ULM before beginning preps for the opening of Southeastern Conference play on Jan. 8 at home against Alabama.
Coach Wade met with the media on Thursday and here are some of his comments:
Opening statement …
“Obviously, it will be a good game (Friday). To get an opportunity to play a top-25 team at home in the non-conference schedule is a big deal. They’re a very, very good team. (Guard Jordan) Lyons is a very good player. (Forward Matt) Rafferty, their five-man is a tremendous player, unlike any big guy we’ve played all year. He’s like a point-center, had 91 assists last year on the year and has done a great job assisting this year. It’s going to be a very difficult matchup for us. I’ve known Coach (Bob) Richey for a long, long time. He’s from down here in Louisiana, went to high school down here. I was joking with him the other day when we were in Texas saying, ‘I wouldn’t have scheduled the game with you if I knew y’all were going to be this good.’ One of his assistants was one of my graduate assistants at VCU as well, Dwight Perry. He’s a really really close friend of mine. They’ve got a great program. They’ve got a great team this year. They are certainly deserving of their top-25 team ranking, and we will need to play one of, if not our best game to give ourselves an opportunity to win this game.”
On Tremont Waters coming off of the bench …
“I thought he did a great job. Tremont (Waters) is a great point guard. He’s a great player for us. I thought he did a really good job of seeing the game a little bit better and getting a different perspective and then go out there to attack and make plays, which is what he does. I thought he did a really nice job. He hit the ball screens hard against Saint Mary’s. He got downhill, played north-south, and I was very pleased with how he played.”
On Marlon Taylor‘s growth so far …
“He’s coming on right before our eyes. He could have come on a little earlier if he didn’t have the setback with the injury and missed the scrimmages and some of the first games. Now, it’s just a matter of him being consistent, very very consistent with what he’s doing not just in the games game but with his work ethic and showing up, putting in the time every day. He’s played well. He played well against Houston, played a good defensive game against Saint Mary’s, about as good of defensive play as you can see. He choked down on the roller and closed out and blocked a three. He made a huge play at the end of the game where Ja’vonte (Smart) made them dribble, and Marlon contested the three. He’s coming on, and we certainly need that as we move into SEC play.”
On Skylar Mays‘ improved defense …
“The best thing that you can say about him defensively is that he usually draws the other teams’ best offensive player. That’s who we put him on. He does a great job. We watched a bunch of extra film on the Ford kid from Saint Mary’s. He had 28 last night on a good Bucknell team. We did a good job of containing him. Sky prepares well, and he understands what he is doing. We feel very comfortable with him guarding the other teams’ best guy.”
On playing Furman …
“We blew some other opportunities. We had a couple of other top-25 opportunities against Florida State and Houston. Those were on neutral courts and on the road. Certainly, it’s almost like you get a little bit of a mulligan on those. You get another top-25 team that you weren’t expecting when we scheduled. In the rankings they’re top-25, but their top-25 in the NET too. This is an at-large team, a very good team, worthy of the ranking. I do think it’s another opportunity for us that we maybe weren’t expecting for us in the non-conference to hopefully pick up another non-conference win.”
On having the opportunity to play Furman at home …
“Our guys know how good of a team they are. It’s important for us to establish a home court. We want to be a great team at home. We want to be a great team everywhere but especially at home. It’s an opportunity you get. You get a top-25 ball club coming into your house to play a home game. If you’re going to have a good season you have to be good at home. We talk about the missed opportunities and all from last year, but the biggest missed opportunities are the home games we lost—the Stephen F. Austin game, the Georgia game. Those games were backbreakers. You get just those two and you’re in really good shape. You’ve got to take care of your business at home. You’ve got to handle your business at home. It’s certainly a huge test and a huge opportunity for us to handle our business.”
On closing games …
“We’ve talked a lot about finishing. We have to be able to finish better. We have to finish better around the rim. Offensively, we have to finish. Our first shot defense is good, but we have to be able to finish defensive possessions. We have to go get the rebound. We have to be ball-getters. Remember, we have to finish games. We have to be able to put games away. We make it a lot harder on ourselves than we should. We’ve gone through those mistakes. There are some commonalties in some of those games and a few of the mistakes we’ve made. We’ve gone about correcting those. Hopefully, we will be better. (Friday) is going to be a tough game. It’s going to be a six-minute game against a tough Furman team. We are going to need to make some plays down the stretch.”