BATON ROUGE, La. — It was exactly a year ago today that the Utah football team made some Louisiana magic with a Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama.
Tonight, the Utah basketball team hopes for some magic of its own down on the Bayou when it faces another Southeastern Conference team, this time on the hardwood against LSU.
The 6-7 Utes and 8-4 Tigers tip it off at 6 p.m. at the Maravich Center.
The Utes could be without leading scorer Carlon Brown, who sat out Thursday's practice with a foot injury. Coach Jim Boylen calls Brown a "game-time decision" and says if he can't play, his minutes will be used by freshman Shawn Glover and sophomore Jordan Cyphers
Brown hasn't started the last three games, but has come off the bench as the Utes' sixth man. Jace Tavita has started in his place to give the Utes a defensive presence. The other Ute starters will be Luka Drca, Kim Tillie, David Foster and Marshall Henderson.
LSU, coached by former Utah assistant coach Trent Johnson, is led by senior forward Tasmin Mitchell, who averages 17.3 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
Storm Warren, a 6-7 sophomore, leads the Tigers in rebounding with 10.3 boards per game and also scores 13.9 points per game. Guard Bo Spencer scores 16.9 points per game, while Chris Bass leads the team in assists at 3.6 per game.
"Their physical size and presence and athleticism will be a challenge for us," said Boylen. "They're very good with offensive rebounding and our defensive rebounding has been a problem, so I'm concerned about that. They've played a good schedule and are battle-tested."
The Utes are coming off a 69-47 victory over UT-San Antonio in which they shot a season-best 56.6 percent from the field and held their opponent to 33 percent shooting. They had junior forward Jay Watkins back for that game and he is expected to be healthy enough to play tonight.
LSU is unbeaten (8-0) at the Maravich Center this year with its four losses coming in the preseason NIT in New York against Connecticut and Arizona State and on the road at Washington State, in overtime, and at Xavier.
The Utes should take some confidence from the fact the Tigers only beat Rice by four points and Nicholls State by three points in their last two home games.
On the other hand, the Tigers might be extra motivated tonight to avenge last year's whipping in Salt Lake by a 91-61 margin.
After tonight's game, the Utes have a week to prepare for their Mountain West Conference opener Jan. 9 against TCU at 1:30 p.m. at the Huntsman Center.
GAME NOTES: The Utes are 2-1 all-time against LSU. In their only previous meeting in Baton Rouge, LSU took a 65-51 decision in 2003. ... Johnson, who coached under Lynn Archibald in the late 1980s, is 35-12 in his second season. ... LSU has a similar attendance average as Utah at 8,313 per game. ... Mitchell and Spencer average 38.4 and 36.9 minutes per game, respectively. Utah has no player averaging more than 30 minutes a game. ... The Tigers play McNeese State Monday before starting SEC play Saturday against Alabama.
Utes on the air
Maravich Center, Baton Rouge, La.
Tonight, 6 p.m.
TV: ESPN Full Court/ESPN360.com/Comcast Sports Southeast
Radio: 700 AM
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