LSU’s two basketball programs will take part in a rare doubleheader this season, as both sets of Tigers will play in the Compete 4 Cause Classic held inside the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Saturday, Dec. 13.
The opener of the doubleheader is a highly anticipated women’s meeting featuring the LSU Tigers, coached by Kim Mulkey, against her alma mater, the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters.
The second game will feature a return matchup of last year’s Compete 4 Cause Classic in Frisco, Texas, pitting the LSU men’s basketball team, which boasts a lineup of new talent and expanded depth under Coach Matt McMahon, against the Southern Methodist University Mustangs.
Game times and possible television coverage will be announced at a later date. Both games will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network. The women’s game will be heard on Mustang 107.1 FM, while the men’s game will be heard on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles.
The doubleheader gives LSU fans in the Crescent City a chance to see both teams play on the same day in a big-time arena and atmosphere.
This will mark the first time LSU and Louisiana Tech have faced off since Coach Mulkey’s triumphant return to Louisiana and LSU. Both teams have won national championships and, at different times, have been dominant in women’s college basketball.
During Mulkey’s playing days at Louisiana Tech, the Tigers and Lady Techsters played only once in Sue Gunter’s second season. The teams met in the Sweet 16 in Ruston, where Mulkey and Louisiana Tech came out on top, 92-67.
In series history, LSU holds a 17-12 advantage. The last time LSU and Louisiana Tech met on the court was in the 2016-17 season opener in Ruston, where the Tigers prevailed, 77-73.
The SMU men won last year’s meeting between the Mustangs and Tigers, 74-64, at the Comerica Center in Frisco. The teams have met six times in the past, with LSU having won two of those contests.
The game will be the second of back-to-back neutral site contests for the men as LSU will play Texas Tech in Fort Worth on Dec. 7.