Following the LSU men’s basketball team’s third-place finish at the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., last weekend, the Tigers are in the midst of a two-week break for final exams.
“We’ll continue to get better on the basketball court in these 14 days,” said LSU coach Johnny Jones. “We have to really prepare and get them ready to make those types of strides that we really need.”
LSU opened their docket in Orlando with an 82-65 thrashing of St. Joseph’s before falling to No. 21 Memphis, 76-69 in the second round. The Tigers took the third-place game with a 70-68, overtime thriller against Butler.
“We knew that [Butler] was going to be a challenge for us,” Jones said. “I thought our guys went about and conducted themselves in the right way in that basketball game. Being down late, understanding they were playing a team that was going to execute at the highest level, we created some turnovers and had some easy scoring opportunities.”
Mickey moves up freshman tracker
Freshman forward Jordan Mickey jumped up to sixth on ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman’s latest Freshman Tracker.
Mickey turned in 12 points per game and 7 rebounds per game at the Old Spice Classic, and he blocked four shots against Memphis. The freshman has contributed to LSU’s sixth-ranked rebounding game, and he’s racked up four double-doubles so far.
Jones eager to continue non-conference schedule
Now that the Tigers have the quality win against Butler under their belt, five games stand between them and the start of their SEC schedule.
After the Tigers’ tilt with Louisiana-Monroe on Dec. 14, the Tigers travel to Texas Tech before an important home game against Alabama-Birmingham. LSU has a chance to boost its Ratings Percentage Index against the Blazers, who have a double-overtime loss to No. 19 New Mexico and an upset win against No. 16 North Carolina.
“To have UAB coming in here and getting off to a tremendous start this year, we look forward to that challenge,” Jones said. “All of these games are really going to prepare us for a very challenging and tough conference schedule.”
Men’s basketball notebook: Tigers on 14-day break after Old Spice Classic
December 5, 2013