It might be considered a rebuilding year or a young team, but the LSU men’s basketball team is going to play on one of college basketball’s biggest stages.LSU (3-0) downed Western Kentucky, 71-60, on Tuesday night, earning the Tigers a trip to the Preseason NIT Tip-Off semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City during the Thanksgiving holidays.”That’s a good basketball team we beat. Obviously, they return the nucleus of a team that was a basket away from going to the NCAA tournament,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “It’s a good win for us, and I couldn’t think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving than going to New York.”For the second-straight night, sophomore forward Storm Warren carried the Tigers’ post game, as he fought his way to 20 points and 11 rebounds on the night.”I’m just coming out ready to play and staying prepared,” Warren said. “I’m not underestimating anybody and just bringing my all to the floor.”Warren did just about everything for a young Tiger team that has yet to find consistent production from senior forward Tasmin Mitchell. He has finished with a double-double in every game of the Tigers’ young season — production Johnson said must continue if LSU is to be successful.”Storm is improving every possession in front of our eyes,” Johnson said.Of course, Warren wasn’t the only standout on a night that saw junior point guard Bo Spencer lead all scorers with 28 points. Spencer improved drastically on a 4-of-20 shooting performance against Indiana State, as he shot 47 percent from the field against the Hilltoppers.”A lot of you made the comment about our shooting. Like I said, I don’t worry about Bo’s shooting,” Johnson said. “He did not necessarily do a good job running the team, but he shot the ball well and made some big plays when we needed them.”Spencer made several of those plays late in the second half. He put a close game out of reach by scoring nine of the Tigers’ last 14 points and helping LSU outscore Western Kentucky, 11-3, in the game’s final two minutes.”I had a bad day shooting yesterday so my coaches told me to let the game come to me,” Spencer said. “Toward the end tonight, I started shooting the ball with confidence, and it just went in.”Spencer’s four 3-pointers helped improve LSU’s shooting percentage, if only slightly. His 44 percent shooting from behind the arc lifted the Tigers’ team percentage after an abysmal 0-of-15 performance against Indiana State on Monday night.”I thought they were going to stop the game and give us the game ball when we hit our first perimeter jump shot, considering what happened last night,” Johnson said.LSU’s only other deep shot came from the unlikeliest of places, as redshirt freshman forward Dennis Harris hit a fall-away 3-pointer with four minutes remaining to surprise and delight the crowd of 8,220.Western Kentucky junior forward Sergio Kerusch provided most of the Hilltoppers’ offense and scored 25 points on the night. Kerusch shot an impressive 7-of-11 from the field for 19 first-half points.”That wasn’t the kids’ fault. We had a bad matchup in the first half,” Johnson said. “There were a couple of situations where I put Storm in, and I moved Dennis over … when I probably should have had Dennis on Sergio.”The Tigers once again did well in the paint, as LSU won the rebound battle, 40-31, and finished with 28 points in the paint to Western Kentucky’s 22.”We were going hard and trying to keep them off the boards and from rebounding offensively, but they just picked up their aggression level, and we didn’t respond,” Kerusch said.LSU will play No. 13 Connecticut (3-0) in New York City on Nov. 25 in the tournament’s semifinal round.”It’s me and [Connecticut coach Jim] Calhoun going one-on-one in the parking lot,” Johnson said. “Do you like my chances? I don’t.”- – – -Contact David Helman at [email protected]