LSU Gold

LSU Meets Wake Forest For Third Straight Year In Final Charleston Contest

+0
LSU Meets Wake Forest For Third Straight Year In Final Charleston Contest

CHARLESTON, South Carolina – The LSU Tigers close out the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic looking for a second win when they meet Wake Forest in the fifth-place game Sunday at TD Arena.

The Tigers and Demon Deacons will tip it off at 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. Baton Rouge time). The game will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Guaranty Media flagship Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) with Colin Lacy and John Brady on the call. The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Chuckie Kempf and Perry Clark on the television call.

The Tigers lost on Thursday to Dayton, 70-67, and defeated North Texas, 66-62, in Friday’s game. LSU has a chance to duplicate what it did in 2011 in the Charleston Classic when it lost to Northwestern in the first round and then defeated Western Kentucky and Georgia Tech.

Wake Forest, like LSU, is 2-2 on the season, losing to Utah in the opener before defeating Towson by 10, 71-61, to set up Sunday’s contest.

Against North Texas, the Tigers rallied from four down in the final 8:47 with Will Baker scoring 16 points, Derek Fountain, on 6-of-6 shooting, scoring 14 and Jordan Wright 12. The three players combined for 19 of LSU’s 33 rebounds.

LSU has shot over 50 percent in both games in Charleston and dominated in both games in points in the paint numbers.

In the win over Towson, the Demon Deacons were led by sophomore guard Kevin Miller, who tied a career high with 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting (64.7 percent) in addition to three assists and team highs in steals (3).

For the second consecutive night, junior guard Hunter Sallis set a new career high in points, as the Omaha native finished the contest with 24 points on an 8-of-12 shooting night, including four treys.

Ironically, this will be the third consecutive year the two teams have met on a neutral court with LSU winning in 2021 and 2022. LSU defeated Wake Forest in the finals of the 2021 Emerald Coast Classic and in 2022, LSU won, 72-70, at the Holiday Hoopsgiving games in Atlanta.

The Tigers on Saturday went through about a 90-minute practice session working primarily on offensive sets and the scouting report of the Demon Deacons.

LSU will return to Baton Rouge late Sunday and will play on Friday at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge against North Florida.