‘Hungry’ LSU Basketball Team After 3 Straight Losses To Finally Face Non-Ranked Team In Texas

GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU will get a taste of the lower division of the Southeastern Conference at last at home Saturday against unranked Texas (14-7, 3-5 SEC) at 5 p.m. on the SEC Network.

The Longhorns are tied for 11th in the SEC with Georgia (15-6, 3-5) as the Tigers (12-8, 1-6) are tied for 14th with Arkansas (12-8, 1-6). LSU then gets to travel to Georgia for a Wednesday game and two of the next three after that will be at Arkansas and at Oklahoma (15-5, 2-5).

That after LSU lost to No. 1 Auburn, 87-74, at home Wednesday, 80-73 at No. 4 Alabama last Saturday, and 68-57 at No. 10 Texas A&M the previous Saturday. First-year SEC member Texas will play LSU in a league game for the first time after falling, 72-69, at No. 23 Ole Miss on Wednesday.

“The guys are hungry to get back in the win column,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said Friday. “Our guys will be locked in and ready to go. We’re competing. We’ve gotten better.”

Texas is no slouch, though. Freshman guard Tre Johnson leads the SEC in scoring with 19 a game, and 6-foot-7 senior forward Arthur Kaluma is scoring 13.8 points a game with 8.1 rebounds. Texas reached the NCAA Tournament second round last season and made it to the Elite Eight in 2023 under coach Rodney Terry, who is in his third season.

“Johnson has to be the best difficult shot maker in the country,” McMahon said. “He can score from either shoulder and is shooting 37 percent from 3-point range. The goal has to be to try to make the shots as difficult and contested as possible.”

LSU senior guard Dji Bailey will likely guard Johnson. Redshirt freshman forward Corey Chest is expected to be back at full strength after suffering a toe injury early in the Auburn game.

“He did not practice Thursday but was full go today,” McMahon said. “He’s responded well.”

Chest had a career-high 18 rebounds and 12 points in the loss at Alabama. He had had just seven points and six rebounds in limited time against Auburn because of the injury. Freshman guard Vyctorius Miller is also expected to be closer to 100 percent with an injured ankle. He missed three straight games before playing briefly and ineffectively against Auburn.

“We expect him to work his way back here quickly,” McMahon said.

LSU’s 1999-2000 SEC CHAMPIONSHIP, SWEET 16 TEAM TO BE HONORED BEFORE TEXAS GAME

LSU coach John Brady and his 1999-2000 team will be honored at Saturday’s LSU-Texas game. The Tigers at the turn of the century finished 28-6 and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament after sharing the SEC regular season title at 12-4 with Tennessee, Kentucky and Florida. LSU beat Southeast Missouri State, 64-61, and Texas, 72-67, in the first and second rounds in Salt Lake City, Utah, to reach the Sweet 16. The Tigers fell to Wisconsin, 61-48, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.