BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team closes its 2023-24 regular season with a home game Saturday night against the University of Missouri.
Tipoff is set for 7:30 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center with the game broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Guaranty Media flagship Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) with the Voice of the Tigers Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady. The game will be televised on the SEC Network with Mike Morgan and Mark Wise.
There will be Boot Up Koozies for the first 1,500 fans and LSU students will get free food from Raising Canes. Tickets are available online at LSUTix.net and at the upper concourse windows of the Maravich Center beginning at 6:30 p.m. LSU fans attending the LSU-Xavier baseball game on Saturday evening may take their Saturday ticket to the ticket window at the Maravich Center and receive a free admission ticket ot the basketball game.
LSU will also honor the players who will be playing their last regular season home game in the Maravich Center – Graduate students Will Baker, Hunter Dean and Jordan Wright; and, senior Trae Hannibal (2nd year at LSU) and four-year letterman Mwani Wilkinson.
That ceremony will begin at approximately 7:10 a.m.
“Excited about this great opportunity (Saturday) night in the regular season finale,” said LSU Coach Matt McMahon. “Senior night, always a really special night of the year. We have five players that will be recognized. I’ll start with Mwani Wilkinson, who’s been here four years. He’s just been an absolute joy to coach. He’s overcome a lot in his time here. I think he’s been all about the right things, all about winning, all about helping build a culture. Excited to honor him (Saturday) night.
“Next up is Trae Hannibal who I’ve had the opportunity to coach these last three years. Been really proud of his growth and development this year in SEC play. Over the last 10 games, he’s been getting over seven rebounds a game, he’s had 45 assists to only 20 turnovers. He’s really impacted winning here down the stretch. Both Mwani and Trae will graduate in May with their degrees from LSU, so a tremendous accomplishment there.
“Then our three graduate transfers who already have their college degrees. Jordan Wright, coming back home after his four years at Vanderbilt. I think he’s had a tremendous impact on our program. 16 points and over five rebounds a game in SEC play. He’s taken full advantage of the opportunity to come back and play in front of family and friends and help us build the LSU program. Will Baker, who joined us from Nevada, has really taken advantage of this year to continue to develop his skillset. He’s been a relentless worker; someone you have to kick out of the gym on a daily basis and has made a great impact. Then fifth, certainly not last though, Hunter Dean, who came back to play his final season of college basketball in his home state. He’s taken great pride in representing the LSU brand and I think his physicality, toughness, athleticism and impact on winning on both sides of the basketball have been outstanding. It’s really been a great privilege to coach all five and looking forward to finishing the season strong with them.”
LSU is 16-14 on the season and 8-9 in the SEC and looking to even its SEC record at 9-9 entering next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
The Tigers are in a three-way tie for seventh place with Mississippi State and Texas A&M at 8-9 and in a three-team tiebreaker would presently be the ninth seed for the tournament. Mississippi State hosts South Carolina and Texas A&M and Ole Miss games are in the afternoon and LSU would know its fate with a win on Saturday night once those games are over.
If Mississippi State and A&M both lose and LSU wins, the Tigers could advance to the seventh seed for Thursday’s opening round game. LSU could also be either the eighth or ninth seed (which play each other) depending on how the games go involving the three schools.
LSU is coming off a game in which Arkansas shot 60 percent in each half (31-of-51 for the game) and made 26-of-35 shots inside the arc in the Razorbacks 94-83 win over LSU on Wednesday at Bud Walton Arena. Both teams did score well in the paint with LSU getting 48 but Arkansas also getting 46. The Razorbacks had a 26-16 advantage in fast break points.
Jordan Wright made 10 free throws for the fourth time this season and finished with 24 points and four assists. Trae Hannibal had a double double with 10 points and his third double figure rebound game of SEC play (10). Tyrell Ward had his career high of 19 points and Derek Fountain added 10 points. LSU had 10 turnovers in the game, just one in the second half of play.
Missouri is 8-22 for the season and 0-17 in SEC play. The visiting Tigers fell to No. 13 Auburn on Tuesday, 101-74, with Sean East leading Missouri with 21 points which gives him six straight games of 20 points or more. He averages a team high 17.6 points and 4.1 assists a game.
Three other Tigers are scoring in double figures for the season – Tamar Bates (13.8), Nick Honor (11.1), Noah Carter (10.7).