Tonight’s contest against Vanderbilt will be the final road game of LSU forward Jordan Mickey’s freshman season.
Mickey and the LSU men’s basketball team (17-11, 8-8 Southeastern Conference) set out for Nashville, Tenn., in hopes of winning their first road contest in eight-straight attempts and possibly improving their seeding heading into the SEC tournament.
This is the second time the Tigers face the Commodores (15-13, 7-9 SEC) this season after beating Vanderbilt 81-58 on Jan. 18.
The Tigers put everything on the line in the final two games of the season, fighting for SEC tournament seeding amid the cluster of mid-level programs.
But while the Tigers are in a race for conference seeding, Mickey is in a race of his own for a place in the LSU record books.
Mickey found his niche with the Tigers, becoming a force at the rim and leading the Tigers with 94 blocks in his inaugural season in Baton Rouge — only six away from becoming the second player in LSU history to amass more than 100 blocks in a single season.
“It’s a big thing knowing you can impact a game just with defense,” Mickey said. “You don’t always have to impact it with scoring and everything. To be able to do that is great.”
The only other Tiger to crack the century mark was four-time NBA Champion Shaquille O’Neal, who pulled off the feat in all three of his seasons at LSU.
LSU coach Johnny Jones said former teammate Leonard “Swat” Mitchell and former LSU standout Tyrus Thomas are players who come to mind when he watches Mickey because he can guard the rim without measuring 7 feet 1 inch like O’Neal — Mickey is listed at 6 feet 8 inches.
“You can do really a highlight reel with his blocks,” Jones said. “Some people do them with their dunks, but I think a lot of blocks that he’s had have been highlights.”
His swats have become so forceful, Mickey said some people have even recommended he tone down the power of his blocks in favor of something that could potentially result in LSU retaining possession.
Jones said he’s just happy the ball is going away from the rim.
“There’s an art to that,” Jones said. “There’s some great guys … guys like Wilt Chamberlain that were expert in keeping it in bounds and getting possession, but [Mickey] being a freshman, that may not be a knack he has.”
Mickey has just two chances left to surpass the 100-block milestone — against Vanderbilt today and the season finale against Georgia on Saturday.
The Tigers have hit several ups and downs during the final stretch of the season, but Jones remains optimistic about his team’s improvement in recent weeks.
“As the season progresses, we’ve always gotten better down the stretch,” Jones said. “Guys are familiar with each other. They’re playing, and they have the ability to really feed off of each other. We’ve been really consistent with that.”