BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers basketball team will start a big day of activities on the campus Saturday at noon when they host the South Carolina Gamecocks at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The teams will tip off on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Guaranty Media flagship Eagle 98.1 FM in BR) with the Voice of the Tigers Chris Blair and former Tiger head coach John Brady. The SEC Network will have the television coverage with announcers Courtney Lyle and Carolyn Peck.
Tickets are available at LSUTix.net and beginning one hour prior to tipoff at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Center. LSU students are admitted free of charge.
South Carolina is coming off a 75-64 loss to Vanderbilt on Tuesday night and while the Gamecocks have just two SEC victories, both of them have come on the road, at Kentucky and at Ole Miss.
Gregory “GG” Jackson II leads the Gamecocks with a 15.2 points per game average. He also leads the team in rebounds at 6.0 a game. Meechie Johnson averages 12.5 points and Hayden Brown averages 11.2 points and 3.4 assists per game for first-year Carolina Coach Lamont Paris.
“They (SC) are coming off a really good road win against Ole Miss,” said LSU Coach Matt McMahon. “Played really well in a game at home against Arkansas where they had the lead there with less than a minute to go. From a personnel standpoint, really effective from three-point range, especially here lately. Chico Carter (Jr.), who I believe is leading the SEC, Meechie Johnson who has been shooting it at a high clip and then Jacobi Wright. Up front, Josh Gray is averaging five offensive rebounds a game over their last five games and then Hayden Brown, who I think is one of the hardest playing guys in our league. Then of course (Gregory) “GG” Jackson II who is a top 15 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. I know our players worked extremely hard (Thursday) in practice and I’m looking forward to the opportunity tomorrow afternoon.”
The Tigers are coming off a heartbreaking 65-63 loss at Georgia on Tuesday night. KJ Williams led LSU with 18 points as LSU rallied from eight points down to take a one-point lead with 11 seconds to play but could not stop Georgia on the final possession.
Williams is averaging 16.1 points per game and a team best 7.3 rebounds while Adam Miller is at 11.7 points per game.
The Tigers will also be at home to start the week as LSU hosts Vanderbilt in a 6 p.m. game on Wednesday.