LSU looks to scale the mountain in Morgantown

An LSU sports team returns to Morgantown, WV, Thursday night as the basketball team faces West Virginia as part of SEC-Big 12 Challenge. It will be the first meeting between the schools since playing on the gridiron in 2011 as LSU football ran all over Milan Puskar Stadium 47-21.

LSU is coming off a performance against UMass where the hosting team dominated on a couple different fronts. The Tigers made 54% of their shots from the field including a 38% clip from beyond the arc and led in rebounding 41-32. Individually Jordan Mickey turned in his fourth double-double performance of the young season with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

If the Tigers improve their 5-2 season record, they will have to scale the mountain against a formidable foe that is 7-0. The Mountaineers defeated Monmouth and Lafayette before heading to the Puerto Rico Tip-off. In San Juan they defeated George Mason, Boston College, and UConn. They then returned home to defeat VMI and College of Charleston.

Against College of Charleston, Josh Holton turned in a double-double performance of his own recording 21 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot 7-inch junior forward matched his career high points total and is Big 12 newcomer of the week. Other leading scorers Saturday night were Jaysean Paige with 15 points and Juwan Staten (the MVP of the Puerto Rico Tip-off) with 10. The Mountaineers added 12 steals leading to 18 turnovers.

This is the third matchup between the teams and the first with Bob Huggins at the Mountaineer helm. The first of which took place in the PMAC in November 2004. West Virginia won 84-69 putting an end to LSU’s home winning streak of 56-games against non-conference opponents. LSU avenged the loss a year later in Morgantown winning 71-68 in overtime.

This year’s edition can be seen nationally on ESPN2 at 6:00 PM local time and can be heard locally on Eagle 98.1.