The Place We All Love

From the LSUReveille

The men’s basketball team travels this weekend to “a peculiar place to play,” as LSU coach John Brady calls C.M. “Tad” Smith Coliseum.The home of Ole Miss basketball, also known as the “Tad Pad,” has seen the Rebel men (13-5, 3-2) lose only one game this year to now- No. 3 Memphis on Dec. 17, 2005, by 23 points.“It’s a very weird place,” said senior guard Darrel Mitchell. “It’s small and dim; it’s like a mini dungeon. It’s real hard to go up there, so we just have to execute and fight toe to toe with them.”The Rebels play notoriously well in “Tad” Smith Coliseum. They have won 82 percent of their last 151 games and have a 355-173 career record there.Brady said he is confident in his team, citing their performances in stadiums such as Schottenstein Center, the 19,500-seat Ohio State basketball arena, and WVU Coliseum, where 14,000 Mountaineers fans watch West Virginia games.“Our guys have played in some pretty tough spots this year and done quite well,” Brady said. “Ole Miss is a smaller arena, but it’s extremely loud, and the Ole Miss team plays very, very well at home.”The Rebels lost their last two contests in road visits to Georgia on Jan. 21 and Arkansas on Jan 25. The Razorbacks held Ole Miss to 58 points, 11 points below their average. The Rebels shot only 40 percent from the field.Ole Miss sophomore Dwayne Curtis has shot 56.7 percent from the field in Southeastern Conference play and has averaged 16.4 points and nine rebounds per game.Brady said Curtis will probably guard sophomore forward Glen Davis and that they might look like “two whales flopping around” on the court. Curtis is 6 feet 8 inches tall and 290 pounds. Davis is 6 feet 9 inches tall and 310 pounds.“They play well; they know their limitations,” Brady said. “They’ve never been a high-scoring team, so it really comes down to a possession game. We’ve got to be ready to play against a tough-minded, man-to-man defensive team.”Mitchell said he is not concerned about playing at the “Tad Pad” because of the three ranked teams the Tigers played at the beginning the season.“Ole Miss isn’t going to be as tough as the other road places’ environments,” Mitchell said. “We started the season out on the road a lot, so we are especially prepared for the road games. We just have to execute, take care of the ball and cut down on turnovers, and I think we’ll be able to beat them.”The Tigers (13-5, 5-0) will go to Oxford, Miss., coming off a 29-point win against Georgia in the PMAC. The game is set for 2 p.m. Saturday.