Tigers to close out regular season
Coming off a hard-fought win over Ole Miss Wednesday, the LSU basketball team will close out the regular season when they travel to Auburn to take on the War Eagles this Saturday at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
LSU defeated the Rebels 59-56 Wednesday at the PMAC in the Tigers last home game of the season. They will be looking for their second victory over Auburn this season.
“Our heads will be up now going to Auburn,” said LSU head coach John Brady. “We beat Auburn here so why not beat them on the road down there.”
LSU (15-13, 5-10 Southeastern Conference) will guarantee itself a winning record with a victory over Auburn and greatly enhance its chances of being invited to the National Invitational Tournament with a win.
In the first matchup between the two schools Jan. 19 at the PMAC, LSU jumped out to an early 20-4 advantage and never looked back in cruising to a 75-58 victory.
Junior forward Ronald Dupree led the Tigers in scoring with a game high 25 points, and LSU’s defense held Auburn (12-13, 4-10 SEC) to a miserable 32 percent shooting from the field and forced 22 turnovers.
The War Eagles pulled to within six points at 52-46 with 7:58 remaining, but shot only 1-of-14 from the field in the final eleven minutes of the game as LSU pulled away.
Auburn has been struggling as of late, losing three of its past four games including a nail-biter to its archrival Alabama Wednesday, 73-68.
Head coach Cliff Ellis starts three freshmen in forward Marco Killingsworth and guards Dwayne Mitchell and Lewis Monroe. Junior forward Marquis Daniels leads Auburn with 11.5 points per game and 5.2 rebounds.
Junior reserve guard Adam Harrington led Auburn in scoring with 14 points in the first matchup with LSU and has come off the bench to lead the War Eagles in scoring in four straight games. He has averaged 13.8 points per game in that span.
For the Tigers, Dupree continues to lead the team in scoring with an average of 17.0 points per game and 8.6 rebounds. He scored 19 points against Ole Miss, including 17 in the second half.
Senior forward Jermaine Williams is coming off of a big senior night against Ole Miss in a game that he scored 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
LSU has won three of their last five games and led Georgia with 30 seconds remaining only to fall by one to the Bulldogs.
“We just have to do what we did against Ole Miss,” said junior guard Torris Bright of what it will take to defeat Auburn. “It’s always tough to play on the road in the SEC, so the main thing we have to do is keep fighting and keep playing hard.”
Bright thinks a win over Auburn would send LSU to the NIT.
“We’re capable of beating Auburn, but we have to beat Auburn to go to the NIT,” Bright said. “I think if we go to the NIT, we have a good chance of winning it.”
He says a trip to a postseason tournament would be very important for the team and would give it momentum going into next year.
“It’s very important because it’s been a tough season all along,” Bright said. “That would be a great accomplishment for us to go to the NIT over even the NCAA if we win the SEC tournament.”
Auburn will celebrate Senior Day before the game and tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Dave Theard