BATON ROUGE -- The LSU Tigers look to get back on the winning track after two losses in New York City last week as they host Louisiana Lafayette  Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The game has an earlier start time to accommodate the regional broadcast of the game on Cox Sports TV (Channel 37 or 737 in Baton Rouge). The radio broadcast is available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge) and in the GeauxZone at LSUsports.net.

Tickets for the game are available online at LSUsports.net and the upper concourse ticket windows at the Maravich Center are scheduled to open at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The two schools meet for the 46th time, but only for the fifth time since the series was resumed in 2001. LSU has won all four of the modern day games, part of LSU’s 75-game winning streak that dates back to Dec. 6, 1988 against Louisiana schools in the Maravich Center.

Last year, LSU opened a 40-31 halftime advantage only to have Louisiana-Lafayette make a late run to close the final margin to just two, 81-79, for the Tigers.

LSU is 3-2 in the contest after the losses to Connecticut and Arizona State in the NIT semifinals and consolation finals, while the Cajuns come to Baton Rouge with a 1-3 record after a 60-58 loss to McNeese. Louisiana-Lafayette’s combined three losses are by a total of 13 points.

Several of the main stars from last year’s game are back including Chris Gradnigo who had 13 points and Randell Daigle who came off the bench to hit five treys and score 24. LSU’s Tasmin Mitchell led the Tigers with 25 points and Bo Spencer had 20.

Whether Spencer suits up for the game and plays remained a day-to-day situation as of Monday at the pre-game media session. Spencer did not take part in the practice session according to Coach Trent Johnson, but would play if he was cleared to go on Tuesday.

Storm Warren has continued to shine for the Tigers with double figures in all five games for LSU, including double doubles in the first three contests. Warren had 15 against UConn and 13 against Arizona State and is third in the league in rebound average at 9.8 a game and first in the league in offensive rebounds at 5.6 boards a game. Warren enters the game with a 15.4 points per game average.

Mitchell had his best game of the season on Friday against Arizona State, scoring 17 points for the Tigers.  He has moved to 13th all-time in scoring at LSU with 1,529 points.

That will be the type of play Johnson will be looking for against Louisiana-Lafayette as he saw in the first half against Arizona State.

“I’m trying to find positives from the past week,” Johnson said. “Obviously, I thought we played as good a half of basketball against Arizona State as we have all year, but in the second half, I thought we got away from what we did in the first half. Obviously, there were some shots that were there that did not go down. Our spacing was bad when we went inside out. Those guys got timid and weren’t aggressive, but defensively, knowing what it’s like to guard Arizona State’s stuff having had experience with them at Stanford, I thought we did a really good job in the first half.”

The game represents the last game of what is a kind of first portion of the 2009-10 season for LSU as they will be off for 10 days for the school mandated concentrated study period and then final exam period which begins on Dec. 7. The team will resume play on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. against Northwestern State, first of four games in eight days at home for the Tigers.

QUOTES FROM MONDAY’S PRE-GAME MEDIA SESSION

LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON

Opening statement...

“I’m trying to find positives from the past week. Obviously, I thought we played as good a half of basketball against Arizona State as we have all year, but in the second half, I thought we got away from what we did in the first half. Obviously, there were some shots that were there that did not go down. Our spacing was bad when we went inside out. Those guys got timid and weren’t aggressive, but defensively, knowing what it’s like to guard Arizona State’s stuff having had experience with them at Stanford, I thought we did a really good job in the first half. After the game, Bo Spencer had made a comment that our approach in practice in understanding a sense of urgency and all those kinds of things starts with him and that he needs to step up. I thought that was very interesting. It remains to be seen, and while we are on Bo, he hasn’t practiced because of his ankle, and he has some academic work that he has to get done, so he won’t be out there today.

“Other than just the overall play of Zach (Kinsley), I thought Chris (Bass) did a good job in terms of running the team and being put in a situation like that. I’m going to say what I said in New York when I was asked questions constantly about being undermanned or being injured. Injuries and a depleted roster so-to-speak is not an excuse for not playing good basketball. It’s pretty evident to me that in the first half against Arizona State, we played pretty good basketball with a bunch of guys who haven’t been in that situation. The disturbing thing coming out of the UConn game, whether they intimidated us or whatever, I just didn’t like our lack of aggression and our overall constant effort in terms of sprinting back. I base that off of Eddie Ludwig, who is probably the least of our athletes, and his ability to make some plays and find some balls in that game.

“All that being said, we have a very good basketball team and a very talented team coming in that we struggled against and were very lucky to beat last year. It’s important that we come out tomorrow, and we play well, play like we’re capable of, defend, rebound, take care of it and go from there.”

On if Bo Spencer will play Tuesday...
“I don’t know if he’s going to play. Obviously, we are in a situation where tomorrow in the shoot-around, if he shows he has the ability to pass and cut to my liking and to Shawn Eddy and our medical people, yes, he’ll play. But, right now he’s got his hands full with some academics, and he has his hands full with his ankle.”

On what he told his team to learn from the games in New York...
“For me as a coach, when you start talking about the things that you think will be a concern throughout the year – your sense of urgency, how hard you run and transition defense – I told him, ‘OK, now you guys understand what we’re talking about.’ What I learned just coming back from the second game versus a good team that is probably going to be in the tournament is that we have a lot of work to do, but we’re not that far off. Guys have to understand, and I’m not talking about any one or two guys. I’m talking about everybody. Bo and Tasmin are part of the experienced group, and now they understand their roles and how much harder and how much more locked in they have to be in every possession. We’re very capable. It’s just going to take time, but we’re going to get better.”

On Louisiana-Lafayette wanting to try to knock off LSU...
“I think that’s the case with everybody. Obviously, we struggled to beat this group last year, and I’ve always felt this with them. It’s just a matter of time. My concern is as talented as they are, our guys know they have to be ready to play. For us, it’s about us getting back out here and playing well, keeping this thing simple, passing and catching with two hands, rebounding and enjoying playing because it wasn’t a very good week, and it doesn’t have as much to do with me as it has to do with all of us. This is a group that doesn’t like losing, especially in that kind of setting. I’ve always said that in these nationally-televised games, you can’t hide. You can’t run to your mom, your girlfriend, your dad or your AAU coach and say, ‘Well, coach didn’t do this, or I didn’t do that.’ No, everybody sees it.”

LSU PLAYER QUOTES

Guard Zach Kinsley

On his experience so far this season...
“I knew I was going to play more minutes than last year, but my dream was to start, and it’s unbelievable.”

On when coach Johnson told him he was going to start...
“He told me the day after the UConn game, the day before the Arizona State game during practice.”

On his immediate reaction to the news...
“I tried not to look surprised. I told my dad, and he kept it a surprise from my mom until the day of the game. She was going to miss the beginning because she was doing something, and he told her that she was going to miss her son starting in the Garden, and she came running in there.”

Forward Tasmin Mitchell

On what he learned from the games in New York...
“I think we learned a lot. We learned that we have to play with a sense of urgency all the time. We played a really good and well-coached team (UConn) with a Hall-of-Fame coach in Jim Calhoun. We learned a lot about ourselves, our team and our identity. We just have to come out and play with a sense of urgency, win, lose or draw.”

On what stood out for him on the trip...
“It was more like what was understood didn’t need to be explained. We knew what we wanted to do. We might not have matched up well with Connecticut, but there were some things we could have done to better ourselves a little better. Me personally as a leader and as who I am, I took responsibility. I know I’m not Superman, but I took the responsibility. There were maybe some things that I could have done or maybe something that I did wrong during this time, but coach Johnson always talks about the value of each possession. I feel like even though we lost two there, I feel like we learned a lot that will help us down the road when we play teams in the SEC.”

Forward Storm Warren

On getting in foul trouble...
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be talked about. There are some things that we should know that we automatically have to do. It’s hard to sit on the bench and watch the game, knowing that you need to be on the floor. You’re no good on the bench. I need to be out on the floor. We all need to be out on the floor, so I need to stay out of foul trouble.”

On if he feels he has to play timid when he’s in foul trouble...
“When I’m on the floor, I have to keep it in the front of my mind that I have four fouls, but I also have to go out and play. I can’t help it. I’m going to play regardless, but I’m going to try to make myself remember that I have to be really cautious with what I’m going to take and what I’m not going to take.”