Baton Rouge, La. — LSU is making their first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2015, and for a program that’s only made it to the Big Dance three times in the last decade, this is a welcomed return to the national stage.
“Obviously it’s a great feeling to be back in the NCAA Tournament,” said LSU senior forward Kavell Bigby-Williams. “They haven’t been in a couple years. I think 4 years, so it’s great for the team, the school, the program. Hopefully moving forward we can be a regular team going to the NCAA Tournament.”
“Yeah, definitely,” said LSU junior guard Skylar Mays. “And on top of that, being from here. So I have a lot of great things going for me with this program and I’m just soaking it all in and just taking it day by day.”
No one on this Tigers’ team has played in the NCAA Tournament except Bigby-Williams, when he went to the Final Four with Oregon before transferring to LSU.
“You’ve got to put it all on the floor,” said Bigby-Williams. “You can’t take anything for granted. We’re the three seed against the 14 seed but in the NCAA Tournament, seeding doesn’t matter as much. Obviously Yale I think a couple years ago upset Baylor so they have a tradition of upsetting teams. You can’t go out there think that we’re going to win. You’ve got to go out there and play how we know how to play and hopefully we can get a win.”
“It’s a first time experience for everyone except him,” Mays said. “He just wants us to live in the moment and enjoy it and hopefully we can take him to another final four and even past that.”
The last time LSU made it to the Final Four was in 2006, when they also played their first two games of the tournament in Jacksonville.