The league teams have converged on this city again for its annual visit to Bridgestone Area for the championship tournament to conclude one of the SEC’s overall impressive basketball seasons.

The Tigers and Bulldogs will be the third of a first-ever four-game first day at the tournament now with all 16 teams taking part in the tournament. Teams seeded 9-16 will play on Wednesday with the winners facing the 5-8 seeds on Thursday before the top four squads enter the fray on quarterfinal Friday. A champion will be crowned on Sunday.

The “Voice” of the Tigers Chris Blair and former LSU head coach John Brady will be courtside for the broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge is the Guaranty Media flagship). Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes and Molly McGrath will have the call on the SEC Network television broadcast.

The Bulldogs are 20-11 overall and were 8-10 in the league. They finished in a four-way tie for ninth place with Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Georgia, but were named the 10th seed based on tiebreaker.

LSU is the 15th seed after a 14-17 regular season that saw LSU go 3-15 in the league.

The Tigers concluded preparations for the tournament with an afternoon workout at the Crockett Center for Athletic Excellence at Belmont University in Nashville before going to Bridgestone Arena for the 40-minute practice time allowed in the arena.

Of State, Coach Matt McMahon said, “We just faced them over in Starkville. We know (Josh) Hubbard put on a show there in the second half. We’ll have to figure out a way to contain him better. We have to try and figure out a way to be better on the glass and stay out of foul trouble with the limited bodies in our front court right now.”

The Tigers will again be without Vyctorius Miller (ankle) and Corey Chest (toe) for the tournament duration leaving LSU with just 10 players dressing out for Wednesday’s game.

One of the highlights for the Tigers this season has been the play of fourth-year senior Cam Carter, who enters the tournament averaging 16.5 points overall and 16.2 points in SEC play. Against the Bulldogs in his first return to Starkville on March 1 since leaving the team after the 2021-22 season, Carter had 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting with five three-pointers.

Coach McMahon talked about his play this season and what he remembers about this past year with him.

“I think you just focus in on some of the memories that you have with him only having an opportunity to coach them for year. By the numbers, he has had the best season of his career from a shooting standpoint. I think that’s a credit to the hard work that he put in this summer and really throughout the season. He’s always a guy that is in the gym every day. I think you’ll always remember the 7-0 run in 12 seconds on the road at Oklahoma to get that win there, and his performance against Arkansas and the win here. Just some of those moments that he had during his final season getting to represent his home state here at LSU.”

The Tigers led 37-35 in the first meeting with Mississippi State back on March 1 in Starkville, one of seven times this year the Tigers have had the lead at halftime only to drop the game in the second half, this time, 81-69. Hubbard had 30 points in that game, including 10-of-11 at the free throw line.

Mississippi State shot 64 percent in the second half, making 16-of-25 field goals and finished the game making 29-of-51, almost 57 percent. It was a game where LSU was able to keep the rebound margin close, 36-31, with a 13-8 advantage on the offensive boards that allowed LSU to have a 15-9 advantage in second chance points.

This will be the second consecutive year and the ninth overall that LSU and Mississippi State have met in the SEC Tournament. Last year, Mississippi State won 70-60 in the second round and it was the sixth consecutive win for State in the series. LSU won the first two tournament meetings in 1952 and 1987 before the Bulldogs won in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2017, 2018 and last year.

The winner of Wednesday’s game will play seventh-seed Missouri at 6 p.m. on Thursday.