The days of experimenting with different players and giving everyone a fair shot are over as the LSU men’s basketball team will open its regular season tonight. The team will host Nicholls State at 8 p.m. in the nightcap of the third annual Hispanic College Funds Classic.
Southern and South Alabama will face off in the early game at 5:30 p.m. in the PMAC.
After lackluster efforts in splitting two exhibition games, head coach John Brady believes his Tigers are primed for the regular season.
“I think we are ready,” Brady said. “I think we are prepared enough to play. We just have to execute, sustain the effort and make positive plays along the way. I am just looking forward to playing the game and see how we do.”
Brady has settled on a starting lineup, including four seniors — guards Torris Bright and Collis Temple III, center Brad Bridgewater and forward Ronald Dupree. 2002 National Junior College Player of the Year Jaime Lloreda will join them as another inside force.
Temple and Dupree led the way in the preseason, as they averaged 14.5 and 14.0 points, respectively. Lloreda was one rebound from averaging a double-double, as he recorded an average of 10.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in the two games.
LSU will possess the most depth it has had in the Brady era.
Sophomore Antonio Hudson, junior Shawnson Johnson and freshman Darrel Mitchell will be the first players off the bench. Players, such as junior Charlie Thompson and sophomore Tony Gibson, will give additional depth to the Tigers.
“Regardless of who we start off with or who we have coming off the bench, it is going to be there,” Temple said. “Having the bench like we have it is going to be a plus for the team.”
LSU gave up just fewer than 75 points per contest and only outscored the two collections of former college players by a total of 150-149. The Tigers hit 20 percent of their three-point attempts, going 9-of-43 from behind the arch.
But Temple thinks a solid week of practice has shored up those problems.
“We will be a lot better because we have had our four best practices since our last exhibition game,” Temple said. “I think that we will be ready.”
Nicholls State, coached by former LSU star Ricky Blanton, brings a team that finished the 2002 season with a 2-25 record and whose tallest player is 6-foot-8 forward Clifton Jones.
The Colonels fell in their only exhibition game to Belhaven College, 61-58. They were led by Damien Lennon, Dominique Gleason and Eric James, who each recorded 11 points.
“From what we understand, they are not real complicated in what they do offensively,” Brady said. “They play some man-to-man and play a little zone, and maybe we want to speed them a little bit. We are going to see if they can handle some full-court pressure, half-court pressure, and see if they can guard us inside.”
The Tigers defeated the Colonels last year at the PMAC, coming from behind from a one-point halftime deficit, and held Nicholls State to 10 second half points in the 71-35 victory.
The winner of the LSU-Nicholls game will face the winner of the South Alabama-Southern game at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday in the championship round. The losing team will play in the consolation round at 2 p.m.