LSU Basketball Faces Pittsburgh Today Amid An NCAA Tournament Vibe

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.