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Tiger Basketball Team Hosts 'Boo Up!' Exhibition vs. Loyola (N.O.) Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The final tune-up for the start of the 2024-25 LSU men’s basketball season takes place Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center when the Tigers take on Loyola (New Orleans).

by Kent Lowe
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Tiger Basketball Team Hosts 'Boo Up!' Exhibition vs. Loyola (N.O.) Tuesday at 7 p.m.

BATON ROUGE – The final tune-up for the start of the 2024-25 LSU men’s basketball season takes place Tuesday night at 7 p.m. CT at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center when the Tigers take on Loyola (New Orleans).

Admission for the game is free and there are a host of events taking place as LSU hosts a pre-Halloween event for fans.

It’s “Boo Up” Night with free candy for kids, a pumpkin decorating contest, a costume contest and pregame activities in front of the Maravich Center.

Also, it is the first of the Tuesday “Beat The Buzzer” happy hour with discount food and drink purchases prior to each home Tuesday basketball game in the Assembly Center. The Beat The Buzzer promotion begins when the doors open one hour prior to tipoff of Tuesday home games and continues until 10 minutes to tipoff.

The specials will feature Tiger Dogs for $2.50, Nachos $2.75, Tiger Burgers (no Burger Kitchen Burgers) $4, an 85oz bag of popcorn for $2.50 and a 32oz souvenir soda for $3.50. The happy hour also includes select beers for just $5.25.

The promotion excludes: Papa John’s, Chick-Fil-A, Cajun Classic, Louisiana Creole Creations, Leroy’s Lemonade, Dippin’ Dots and Posh Pop.

Tuesday’s game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates with the “Voice of the Tigers” Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady. The pair will also be simulcast on the SEC Network+ streaming broadcast as well.

“We are really excited to get started (Tuesday) night with our exhibition game,” said LSU Coach Matt McMahon. “I know the players are looking forward to playing against somebody else. I think the coaches are looking forward to seeing us play against somebody else. I know it’s been a very competitive fall camp, but we’re excited to face some outside competition. Really for half our roster, it’s the first opportunity getting to play in front of our students and our home fans here.

“I know they have a lot of things planned for the community,” said Coach McMahon. “There is a Halloween theme to the game for all kids here in Baton Rouge and free admission. So we want to invite everybody to come have a good time (Tuesday) night in the PMAC.”

LSU and Loyola have a long history of regular season basketball games, although the last regular season game was in 1972 when the athletic program was discontinued at the New Orleans school that year.

The Wolfpack program was revived in the 1991-92 season and some 30 years later in 2022, the Wolf Pack captured the NAIA National Championship. The team also won the 1945 NAIA Championship and three times in the 1950s was in the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament.

Loyola opened its season this past Thursday with an 89-71 win over Southern-New Orleans. Alex Hammond led the Wolf Pack with 17 points and seven assists, while Zachary Lee (9 rebounds) and Leonard Jackson had 13 points each, Milan Mejia 12 and Kosta Bjelicic 11 points. Loyola had 20 second chance point against SUNO and 25 points off turnovers.

Loyola is coached by Donald Reyes in his third year in the head chair. Reyes was a former manager at LSU under current LSU radio analyst John Brady.

The Tigers are working toward their season opening contest on Nov. 6 against ULM in the Maravich Center to officially start the third year of the Coach McMahon era at LSU. LSU was 17-16 a year ago, 9-9 in the SEC, and returned to postseason play with an appearance in the NIT.

LSU will be looking to be more successful in November and December as they dropped five games in non-conference play. The Tigers will have two games at home in the first week of the season, hosting ULM as mentioned on Nov. 6 and Nov. 10 against Alabama State.

LSU returns players like Jalen Reed, Mike Williams III, Derek Fountain, Daimion Collins and Tyrell Ward and they will be joined by three players from the transfer portal – Jordan Sears from UT Martin, Dji Bailey from Richmond and Cam Carter from Kansas State.

The Tigers have three top 65 high school recruits in Vyctorius Miller, Curtis Givens and Robert Miller along with junior college transfer Noah Boyde and redshirt freshman Corey Chest from New Orleans who will see his first action this season. Boyde has yet to be cleared for action after off-season surgery.

“I really like the character of our group and the coachability,” said Coach McMahon. “I think that’s enabled us to really start to build a true team chemistry and culture in the locker room. It’s been a fun group to coach. Obviously, we’re undefeated and haven’t played a game yet, but it’s been a lot of fun, because I think we have competitive guys who come to work every day and want to do whatever they can to help our team win, and so that’s been a lot of joy to be around.”

Ticket information for season tickets, non-conference single game tickets and mini-plans are available at LSUTIx.net.