LSU seeks huge upset, hosting No. 1 Auburn Wednesday in PMAC

BATON ROUGE – The road trip that saw LSU play four-of-its-last-five games away from Baton Rouge is over and now the Tiger Basketball team returns home for the first of two games this week starting Wednesday night at 6 p.m. against the No. 1 team in college basketball, Auburn.

The battle of Tigers at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with the “Voice of the Tigers” Chris Blair and former Tiger coach John Brady on the call (Baton Rouge flagship for Guaranty Media is Eagle 98.1 FM). The television coverage will be on the SEC Network with Kevin Fitzgerald and Mark Wise.

Tickets are available online at LSUTix.net and at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Center beginning at 5 p.m. LSU students are admitted free of charge with valid ID. The first 1,000 fans will receive a replica Maravich Center keepsake that comes with a removable roof.

LSU comes in 12-7 and 1-5 in the league, having played against three ranked teams, including No. 4/3 Alabama on Saturday in which the Tigers fell to the Crimson Tide, 80-73. LSU was tied at the half and played well into the second half within range of the Tide in Tuscaloosa.

“Looking back at Saturday night’s game in Alabama, it was certainly not the result or outcome we desired,” LSU Coach Matt McMahon said at Monday’s media session. “But I definitely think we took a step forward as a team. There was a lot of progress made in some areas we spent a lot of time on last week. The offensive rebounding; Corey Chest, his first half performance on the glass was as good a half as I’ve seen as far as rebounding the basketball, especially on the offensive end, where he got nine.

Chest finished with 18 total rebounds, the most by an LSU player since Dec. 2021 (Darius Days) and posted his fourth double double with 12 points.

“I thought defensively we played with energy and toughness. We did a better job of limiting the three-point shot against that explosive Alabama offense. So a lot of progress made, all-in-all at the end the day, though, offensively execution, poor shooting – it was the third straight Saturday on the road against a top 15 team, where we didn’t shoot the ball nearly well enough from behind the three-point line.”

The Tigers were just 3-of-23 (13.0 percent) from the arc against Alabama after shooting 24 percent at A&M the Saturday before and 22.6 percent at Ole Miss. The Tigers are just 26.6 percent (38-of-143) from the arc in league contests.

But for the first time in six league games, LSU was able to reverse the major points off turnovers deficit by getting 12 steals and 17 points off turnovers but couldn’t convert in several key possessions in the latter part of the second half.

“While the turnover battle was even because of the 12 steals that we had in the game, there were still too many unforced errors that led to empty trips for us when you’re trying to beat a top five team on their home floor,” said Coach McMahon.

Auburn comes into the game with only one loss in 19 games and 6-0, one third of the way through the SEC gauntlet. Auburn is coming off a physical 53-51 win over Tennessee at Neville Arena in Auburn on Saturday. Superstar Johni Broome, who returned from injury against Tennessee, is averaging 17.8 points and 10.9 rebounds to lead Auburn with Chad Baker-Mazara averaging 12.8 and Tahaad Pettiford at 11.8 points per game.

Cam Carter of LSU continues to lead the SEC in SEC game scoring at 19.0 points a game. For the full season he is averaging 17.6 points a game. Jordan Sears, who had 21 in the loss to Alabama, is averaging 14.2 points a contest.

“We had a really good practice (Monday) morning,” said Coach McMahon. “And we’re on to this great opportunity on Wednesday. As I told them, it’s not every day you get to play against the number one team in the country on your own floor. I have great respect for Auburn and the program Coach (Bruce) Pearl has built there.”

LSU will be playing a No. 1 team for the 22nd time in its history with three wins over No. 1 ranked teams. Two of those came in the Maravich Center and the last came in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament when LSU knocked off No. 1 ranked Duke on the way to the NCAA Final Four.

*LSU press release