No. 25 Tigers take undefeated record into Hoopsgiving event against Georgia Tech

The No. 25 LSU men’s basketball team returns from its break for final exams with a neutral site game against Georgia Tech at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Holiday Hoopsgiving event at State Farm Arena.

ESPN2 will broadcast the game which can also be carried by LSU Sports Radio on 98.1 FM.

LSU (8-0) is ranked No. 3 in the NCAA NET and No. 24 in the Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll powered by USA Today Sports and No. 25 in the AP Media Poll. LSU has not played since a 66-51 win over Ohio on Dec. 1 as the program paused for the traditional break for concentrated study period and final exams.

Georgia Tech (5-3) is led by the leading scorer in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Michael Devoe who is scoring at a 23.6 points per game clip and shooting 54.5 percent from outside the arc or 3.43 treys made her game. Jordan Usher is averaging 13.5 points and 7.1 rebounds a game for the Yellow Jackets.

LSU and Georgia Tech have met 35 times with LSU holding a 21-14 lead. This will be the first time the team have met since November of 2011 when LSU defeated Georgia Tech, 59-50, on the final day of the Charleston Classic. Georgia Tech was an early member of the Southeastern Conference, departing the league in 1964.

“We’ve really given them a couple of days off to focus on academics and then we’ve gotten back into the swing of things with practice,” LSU basketball coach Will Wade said. “Georgia Tech has a great scorer with Devoe and Usher and some of their other guys. They run a Princeton-style offense which we haven’t played this year. Defensively, they play every defense known to man. They do a bunch of different stuff, so we are going to have to be prepared for changing defense and a lot of different looks. They make it very hard to get in rhythm against them because of all the different defenses that they play.”

Darius Days continues to lead LSU in scoring at 16.0 points per game and 7.8 rebounds, while Tari Eason, who has scored 20 in two of LSU’s last three games, is averaging 14.6 points and a team best 7.9 rebounds. Efton Reid is also in double figures at 10.1 points per game and 5.3 rebounds.

After playing on Saturday, the Tigers will return to the Maravich Center on Tuesday night for a 6 p.m. game with Northwestern State.