• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

LSU aims to stay red-hot vs. Vanderbilt

Mar 4, 2009 - 11:17 AM Vanderbilt (17-11) at No. 11 Louisiana State (25-4) 8:00 p.m. EST

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (Ticker) -- With the Southeastern Conference regular-season title locked up, No. 11 Louisiana State can turn its attention to improving its NCAA Tournament seeding.

The Tigers will look to capture their 11th straight win overall and 14th consecutive in conference play Tuesday when they host Vanderbilt.

LSU (25-4, 13-1 SEC) has dominated an average SEC conference this season, clinching the league crown with two games remaining on the schedule thanks to a 73-70 win at Kentucky on Saturday.

Marcus Thornton continued his torrid stretch against the Wildcats, pacing the Tigers with 23 points despite shooting just 8-of-23 from the field. The senior is averaging 21.0 points per game and shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc on the season.

The Tigers are the only SEC squad ranked in the Top 25 and will be the top seed in the league tournament next week.

Vanderbilt (17-11, 6-8) had lost three of its last four games before defeating South Carolina, 96-83, on Saturday.

A.J. Ogilvy led the way with 28 points and Jermaine Beal had a creer-high 27 to pace the Commodores to their highest offensive output of the season.

With a 1-6 road mark in conference play, the Commodores will need wins at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and against Arkansas on Sunday if they hope to receive any NCAA Tournament bubble considerationg.