Tiger Basketball Team Opens Greenbrier Tip-Off Friday Against Pitt
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia – When the plan was made to bring an early season multi-team event to American’s Resort here at The Greenbrier, little did they know that it would be a loaded four-team event.
Four teams, all ranked in the top 66 of Kenpom.com, enter with a combined record of 18-0.
It will be 4-0 LSU Tigers, with an early season signature win at Kansas State, meeting 5-0 Pittsburgh, receiving votes in both polls, and with a 24-point win over West Virginia on its early resume’.
The game is set for a 1:30 p.m. CT tip at Colonial Hall at the Greenbrier Resort with the game broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with former head coach John Brady joined by JD Byars, who is sitting in for the on-assignment Chris Blair. In Baton Rouge, the Guaranty Media flagship Eagle 98.1 FM will have the broadcast.
Jack Benjamin and Matt McCall will have the television broadcast call on the CBS Sports Network.
The Tigers are coming off a 77-68 win over Charleston Southern as for the second straight home game the Tigers had to rally in the second half to get the win. Freshman Vyctorius Miller led the Tigers with 19 points, while Jordan Sears added 15 points and Dji Bailey added 11.
“It’s an incredible field,” said LSU Coach Matt McMahon. Pitt just won by 26 over West Virginia, Wisconsin scored 103 points against Arizona. Central Florida already has a win over Texas A&M. It’s a great field. I think those neutral site games are priceless. And more quad one opportunities for our team here in November.”
Pittsburgh is coached by veteran Jeff Capel in his seventh season for the Panthers and his 16th season as a head coach. Pitt is averaging 88.2 points per game, while shooting 51.3 percent from the field as all five Panther starters are averaging 10 or more points per game.
Ishmael Leggett leads the Panthers in scoring at 17.6 points per game and 6.2 rebounds, while Damian Dunn is at 15.2 points. Jaland Lowe averaged 13.6 points, while Cameron Corhen is at 12.6 points and 3.0 assists. Also averaging 3.0 assists is Guillermo Diaz Graham, who come sin at 10.0 points a contest.
Senior Cam Carter leads the Tigers in scoring at 17.8 points per game, while Jordan Sears is at 13.8 points and 3.2 assists, with Dji Bailey at 10.8 points and 4.8 rebounds. Jalen Reed enters the tournament with 10.3 points and 6.8 rebounds.
LSU is shooting 49.3 percent from the field and while three-point shooting has not been what had been hoped for so far at 31.2 percent, the Tigers are holding opponents to just 19.7 percent from distance and that is ranked second in the current NCAA Statistics as of Thursday afternoon. LSU is 20th in the country according to Teamrankings.com in two-point shooting at 61.9 percent.
Colonial Hall at the Greenbrier is a big entertainment venue/ballroom at the Resort that has been transitioned into a basketball arena with seating for some 1,100 fans. It has some resemblance to the way the tournament is set up at the Atlantic or Baha Mar resorts in the Bahamas which started the trend of playing these games in ballrooms.
UCF and Wisconsin will follow the LSU-Pitt game and the losers and winners will meet on Sunday in the second games of the event with game times at 2 and 4:30 p.m. CT.