Tigers host Rebels in final home game
The LSU men’s basketball team (14-13, 4-10 Southeastern Conference) will fight to keep its postseason hopes alive in its last home game of the season Wednesday night when the Ole Miss Rebels (19-8, 8-6 SEC) come to Baton Rouge for a 7 p.m. matchup.
This will mark the 178th meeting between the two SEC West rivals with LSU holding a 104-73 advantage, including a 27-3 series lead in games played at the PMAC.
Senior Night festivities will take place minutes before the game at 6:50 p.m. to honor the Tigers’ three seniors, Pete Bozek, Jermaine Williams and Jason Wilson.
“[These last four years] have been nice, and I’ve learned a lot,” said Williams, who will be making his 55th career start for the Tigers. “My time has come, and it’s time to go.”
The Rebels took the last meeting from the Tigers by the score of 70-55 in Oxford. Sophomores Justin Reed (14.8 points and 6.7 rebounds a game) and Aaron Harper (11.9 points and 4.1 rebounds a game) led the way for Ole Miss with 18 and 16 points respectively in the Rebels’ win.
Reed has been red-hot recently and is averaging a double-double with 15.2 points and a league-leading 10.2 rebounds per game in the last two weeks.
Ole Miss enters tonight’s contest with a four-game road losing streak and has portrayed a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” syndrome with the way it plays at home and on the road.
The Rebels are a perfect 7-0 in SEC home games but have put up a 1-6 record away from home in the SEC, which can only mean good news for the Tigers.
“Ole Miss is tough, but they’re not as tough on the road,” said LSU junior forward Ronald Dupree. “We’re playing well, we just need to make some shots. We’ve come a long way from that [last] Ole Miss game.”
Dupree is currently fourth in the SEC in scoring (17.0 a game) and second in rebounding (8.7 a game).
Point guard Jason Harrison sets up the offense for the Rebels. The 5-foot-5, 160-pound senior is averaging 9.9 points and four assists per game and leads the SEC from the free-throw line (89.4 percent).
As a team, the Rebels are second in the SEC from the free-throw line. Guard David Sanders (11.7 points and 4.7 rebounds a game) is leading the league from behind the arc, shooting 50.9 percent.
With a win over the Rebels, the Tigers are guaranteed at least a 15-14 record heading into the SEC Tournament, which will be held in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome on March 7-10.
“We just want to come in and play our hearts out,” Williams said. “[We want to] win at Auburn [on Saturday], get some type of NIT bid, go to the SEC Tournament, try to win that and hopefully go to the NCAA Tournament.”
The NIT has expanded its field from 32 to 40 teams for this year’s tournament and has the Tigers feeling optimistic.
“We have an opportunity to maybe get a NIT postseason [bid],” said junior forward Brad Bridgewater. “That’s a goal, and everybody is striving to get that goal.”
The Tigers think if they play against Ole Miss like they did Saturday against 15th-ranked Georgia, they will win the game and set themselves up for the postseason.
“We’re not far, we’re right there,” said Dupree. “We’ve got two more games that we can definitely win. I think we’ll be fine.”
Bryan Wideman