Today will be a long day for the LSU men’s basketball team.
The Tigers were bumped to the final game in the first round of the Southeastern Conference tournament in Atlanta after a second-half collapse against Auburn on Saturday in the PMAC.
The Tigers (11-20, 3-13) won’t tip off until 10 p.m. EST — 9 p.m. CST — with No. 3-seeded Vanderbilt (21-9, 9-7) in the opening round of the conference tournament.
“[Junior forward] Storm [Warren], who is the elder statesman of the team, put in a request to sleep until like 6 p.m., get up and have a pregame meal and go play,” LSU coach Trent Johnson joked during a media session Wednesday in Atlanta.
Tonight’s game could signal the end of another forgettable season for men’s hoops in Baton Rouge.
Auburn’s 60-51 victory against LSU on Saturday signaled LSU’s 13th defeat in its last 14 games.
The loss put LSU in the cellar of the SEC West for the second straight year and the third time in the past five seasons.
But the No. 6-seeded Tigers’ postseason chances are technically alive until they are eliminated from the SEC tournament.
“It’s not like football or any other sports for that matter,” Johnson said. “At the end of the year, you can be 0-30, and if you have a chance to play and win, you can continue to play. So that’s how we look at it.”
The Tigers’ hopes of pulling the upset could rest in the play of Warren, who has come on strong toward the end of the season. The Monroe native recorded at least 12 points and five rebounds in the past four games.
“You come out with a win, or you’re going home,” Warren said. “[We can’t] hold anything back and just let it all go out on the floor.”
Unlike LSU, Vanderbilt is raring for another postseason run after being ousted in the first round of NCAA tournament last year by Murray State.
“We would like to play well, and we would like to gather some momentum going into next week,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said Wednesday in Atlanta. “It will be good for these guys to feel the pressure of, if you get beat, you go home.”
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects the Commodores as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.
“We want to play well on Thursday night, and that’s all our focus is about and all it will continue to be about,” Stallings said.
LSU and Vanderbilt faced each other 12 days ago in Baton Rouge when the Commodores won, 90-69, after scoring 49 points in the second half.
“I remember at halftime in that game, Coach Johnson came in and said defense was what was going to win it for us, and that’s what lost it for us,” said freshman guard Ralston Turner.
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Men’s Basketball: Tigers start SEC tourney with rematch vs. Vanderbilt
March 9, 2011