It’s only November, but it may as well be the ides of March for the LSU basketball team.
The Tigers have a day game on a Friday afternoon – which is reserved for the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament in mid-March. The Tigers (4-0) play Pittsburgh (5-0) at 1:30 p.m. today in the Greenbrier Tip-Off Tournament in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, at the resort’s Colonial Hall on the CBS Sports Network.
It’s not the NCAA Tournament, but it would be a Quad One victory (defeating a top 50 team on a neutral site) for LSU, and a loss would not hurt the Tigers. The Panthers, who have an impressive, 86-62 win over West Virginia at home on Nov. 15, are a 6.5-point favorite.
LSU has an impressive win as well – 76-65 at Kansas State on Nov. 14, which will be a Quad One win for the Tigers come March Madness should Kansas State be in the top 75 at the time.
“Pitt, to me, is a top 25 team in the country,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said after his Tigers defeated Charleston Southern, 77-68, on Tuesday night at home. Elite point guard play, very experienced. So, it will be a great test for us.”
Pitt did receive nine votes for the latest Associated Press top 25 poll this week.
Sophomore point guard Jaland Lowe (6-foot-3, 175) is averaging 13.6 points a game for the Panthers with 5.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds. Ishmael Leggett, a 6-3 senior guard, leads Pitt with 17.6 points a game and has 6.2 rebounds a game.
Pitt coach Jeff Capel sees LSU as potentially his most difficult opponent to date.
“To me, you find out more about your team when you hit a rough spot,” he said this week. “Everything’s been pretty good for us right now, from the exhibition, to the scrimmage, through the first five games. I hope we don’t hit adversity, but I know it will come. And that’s when you really start to figure out who you really are.”
The LSU-Pitt winner plays at 4:30 p.m. Sunday against the winner of Friday’s 4 p.m. game between No. 19 Wisconsin (5-0) and Central Florida (4-0). Wisconsin beat No. 9 Arizona, 103-88, on Nov. 15, and Central Florida defeated Texas A&M, 64-61, on Nov. 4.
“It’s an incredible field,” said McMahon, who appears to have a March attitude. “I think these neutral site games are priceless. And more Quad One opportunities for our team here in November.”
The losers of the two Friday games meet at 2 p.m. Sunday.
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