Mass communication sophomore Marc Stevens has attended more than 100 LSU basketball games, but the “Ice Game” still resonates with him.
“I just remember it was the first time all [last] season that students actually showed up,” Stevens said. “I think it had to do with school being out and the road frozen over. They didn’t really have anything else to do. They showed up en mass, and it made the game really awesome.”
With the streets of Baton Rouge blanketed in ice, a student-heavy crowd stuffed the PMAC to watch their Tigers upset then-No. 18 Kentucky on Jan. 28, 2014.
For fifth-year mass communication senior Adrian Wintz, who said he’s attended nearly every home game for the last five seasons, it was one of the most unforgettable game he’s been to.
“It was all just one giant blur of awesomeness,” Wintz said. “I honestly can’t remember one particular moment. Every
minute was crazy.”
As the LSU men’s basketball team (17-6, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) prepares for its clash against No. 1 Kentucky (23-0, 10-0 SEC) at 6 p.m. tonight at the PMAC, memories of the “Ice Game” have been rekindled by fans and players alike.

“It was a crazy game last year,” said sophomore guard Tim Quarterman. “There was a lot of stuff that had to do with that game like the ice storm, and our fans still showed up through it all and they supported us from beginning to end.”
Before last season’s game, Winter Storm Leon forced University officials to shut down the school for nearly a week before reopening Jan. 30, 2014. With the ice-covered roads closed and preventing most of the general public from attending the game, the doors of the PMAC were opened to students stuck on campus.
They came in force, creating a college-like atmosphere of students watching fellow students playing.
“We may have had more people if the general public had been able to come, but overall, the atmosphere wouldn’t have been near what it was,” Stevens said. “It was essentially a PMAC full of students, and that in itself was amazing.”
While there likely won’t be another ice storm shutting down campus by Tuesday, there are similarities between the Tigers’ upcoming clash with Kentucky and last year’s “Ice Game.”

In each of the last two seasons, the Tigers started 6-4 after 10 games in conference play. Like last season, LSU started SEC play with a loss before winning five of its next seven games. In the past two seasons, the Tigers were 3-2 with one overtime game in its five matches leading to the Wildcats.
Last season, LSU had four players averaging double-figures. The Tigers have four in 2015: sophomore forwards Jordan Mickey (17.0), Jarell Martin (16.0), junior guard Keith Hornsby (12.5) and Quarterman (12.3).
Though last season’s Kentucky wasn’t undefeated like the team this season, the Wildcats entered the “Ice Game” as one of the premiere squads in the SEC.
In each of the last two seasons, the Wildcats entered their game with LSU as one of the top two teams in the SEC. In the 10 games before facing LSU in both seasons, the Wildcats won six of them by nine points or more.
Each of the past two Kentucky teams featured at least seven McDonald’s High School All-Americans on their rosters. However, this year’s Kentucky team has nine, not including 2015 John R. Wooden Award hopeful Willie Cauley-Stein.
But Kentucky’s elite team last season didn’t stop Stevens from promising victory for his beloved Tigers.
“[NBC] was outside [of the PMAC] talking to people, and I kind of guaranteed victory Joe Namath-style,” Stevens said. “I was like, ‘Kentucky don’t got a chance in the Ice Dome.’”
The Wildcats never did. LSU jumped out of the gate to a 22-6 lead, the second-largest deficit Kentucky faced all season. With students as absorbed in the game as the players, the Wildcats were forced to play catch-up in front of a lively crowd the entire night.

“I remember we got out to a really hot start, and the crowd and the students were just so into it, which I honestly didn’t expect,” Wintz said. “But they were literally in the snow. They had nothing to do, so they were going to be here and be loud. The team fed off of that.”
After he saw how many students had filled the PMAC on that cold January night, Martin knew it was going to be a special game.
“When we first came out here warming up, the student section was almost filled,” Martin said. “We knew then that it was going to be a big night, and we’d have a lot of fans in there.”
Though he only played eight minutes in the “Ice Game” last season, Quarterman recalled feeling astonished by the student turnout.
“I thought it would be mostly students, so I wasn’t shocked by the students at the game,” Quarterman said. “But when I saw how many it was, that’s when I got shocked.”
Despite the similarities between the “Ice Game” and the Tigers’ contest against Kentucky tonight, there are also some differences. Kentucky is currently the last unbeaten team in the nation, riding a 23-game win streak with 10 victories over clubs ranked in the RPI’s top 50.
LSU sits at No. 51 in the RPI with four top-50 wins. However, the Tigers also possess two glaring losses on their resume — one to No. 168 Missouri and another to No. 164 Mississippi State.
LSU responded to its first losing streak of the season with a resounding 71-60 win against Alabama on Saturday, its second double-digit SEC victory this year. With the Tigers returning to the win column, the PMAC will be sold-out Tuesday for the first time since Jan. 24, 2009.
Martin said he is ready for his team to put on a show in front of what promises to be another lively crowd.
“It’s a sold-out game, and it’d be great for the community to come in and support us and watch us,” Martin said. “We can send them a show and show them what we’re capable of doing.”
You can reach David Gray on Twitter @dgray_TDR.