LSU Men's Basketball at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center
Deep in the swamps of the Louisiana bayou, the LSU Tigers play their home games at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The team plies its trade in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), a collection of teams mostly known for football. However, the basketball is just as exciting as the action on the gridiron, and fans can expect a rabid crowd cheering on the Tigers each and every NCAA season.
LSU Men's Basketball History
What better place to start in the history of the LSU Tigers men's basketball team than with the man who the arena is named after? "Pistol" Pete Maravich is commonly regarded as one of the greatest basketball creatives of all time, a savant with the ball in his hands.
Though it didn't lead to any substantive NCAA tournament success, Maravich's career in Baton Rouge was something to behold. He man averaged 44.2 points per game throughout his career from 1967 to 1970. He also was named Player of the Year his senior season before heading off to a memorable professional career.
After Maravich, other LSU players made their mark at both the collegiate and pro levels. Those include Bob Pettit, Brandon Bass, Glen "Big Baby" Davis, and current Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons, who spent a year in the Tigers' purple and gold. Of course, the biggest name since Maravich was Shaquille O'Neal, who played in Baton Rouge in the early 1990s. The big fella was Player of the Year in 1992, the year he left to pursue a career in the NBA, where he won four NBA titles.
LSU's most recent bout of success was in 2006, where the team made the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, although they lost to eventual runners-up UCLA in Indianapolis. They have made two tournaments since then (in 2009 and 2015), and the Tigers are always a tough team to play in the SEC.
