BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers will look to complete a 3-0 homestand on Monday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center when they host the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.
Tip time is just after 7 p.m. and tickets are on sale all day Monday at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUTix.net. LSU Students are admitted free of charge with valid student ID. Also, in honor of Veterans Day on Wednesday, it is Military Appreciation Night and free tickets will be available at the upper concourse ticket windows (which opens at 6 p.m. for all sales) for all active-duty and military veterans.
The game will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Guaranty Media flagship station Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) with Chris Blair and Jordy Hultberg and streamed on SECN+ with Lyn Rollins and Victor Howell.
Both teams are 2-0 on the young season with LSU winning easily over LSU New Orleans, 100-57, and Texas Southern, 92-51. Louisiana Tech has also won two home games over Kent State, 85-75, and Arkansas-Monticello, 76-17.
In two games for Louisiana Tech, Brayton Wenger leads the team averaging 20.5 points a game with Iyran Francis at 10.5 a contest.
While LSU comfortably won the game on Friday against TSU, Coach Will Wade will be looking for a cleaner start and consistency in a couple of areas in Monday’s game – three-point shooting where LSU was 5-of-22 and free throws where the Tigers started 2-of-8 and finished 15-of-25.
"I mean, we have some good shooters. We just haven't made them,” said Coach Wade after the game. ‘… we got to step up and knock them down. I think we have great shooters … It's just not sustainable how we're playing. The free throw line kills us too. We could never get going in the first half because when you get an offensive rebound, and you get fouled and miss two free throws it is like a turnover. We did that multiple times, so it makes it tough sledding."
The Tigers have had, however, had five double doubles in the first two games combined with forward Saliou Niang having two points-rebound doubles and guard Donovan Dent having two doubles with points and assists.
Dent has played over 60 minutes and has had 20 assists (10 each game) and no turnovers. Niang was a co-leader in scoring against TSU with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Tigers have shot over 50 percent from the field at 57.1 percent (36-of-63) and through two games is ranked sixth in the country through play on Saturday at 70.8 percent in two-point shooting. In a true display of Will Wade analytics, the Tigers have taken only four mid-range shots outside the arc in the opening contests.
This will be the first meeting for the two teams since playing in Bossier City in December 2021. LSU leads the series, 13-1.
After Monday’s game, the Tigers will travel Thursday out West for a Saturday date in Spokane versus Gonzaga at the Numerica Veterans Arena. Gametime is 2:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on USA Sports.