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1985–86 LSU Tigers basketball
1985–86 LSU Tigers basketball
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	26–12 (9–9 SEC)
Head coach	Dale Brown (14th season);
Assistant coaches	Ron Abernathy (10th season); Bo Bahnsen; Johnny Jones (2nd season);
Home arena	LSU Assembly Center
	Seasons ← 1984–85 1986–87 →

1985–86 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 3 Kentucky †	17	–	1	.944	32	–	4	.889
Alabama	13	–	5	.722	24	–	9	.727
Auburn	13	–	5	.722	22	–	11	.667
Florida	10	–	8	.556	19	–	14	.576
LSU	9	–	9	.500	26	–	12	.684
Georgia	9	–	9	.500	17	–	13	.567
Vanderbilt	7	–	11	.389	13	–	15	.464
Tennessee	5	–	13	.278	12	–	16	.429
Ole Miss	4	–	14	.222	12	–	17	.414
Mississippi State	3	–	15	.167	6	–	22	.214

† 1986 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 1985–86 LSU Tigers basketball team represented Louisiana State University in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during the 1985–86 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. It is best known for being the lowest seeded team (11th) in the NCAA tournament to reach the Final Four (later matched by George Mason in 2006, VCU in 2011, Loyola–Chicago in 2018, UCLA in 2021, and NC State in 2024).^[1] They remain the only 11 seed to beat the 1, 2, and 3 seeds in their region in the same tournament.

Season

The team is also remembered for overcoming numerous obstacles during that season. Star forward Jerry Reynolds had left LSU early for the NBA draft. The Tigers originally had two seven-footers and a third player near that height on their roster, but only one was available by the start of the season—6–11 Damon Vance was declared academically ineligible, and 7-1 freshman and future NBA player Tito Horford either left the team or was dismissed, depending on the source.^[2]^[3] The other seven-footer, Zoran Jovanovich, suffered a season-ending knee injury during the team's Christmas break.^[3] Two other players were declared academically ineligible—Dennis Brown, reportedly a solid engineering student, took too few courses in his major and was ruled out for the entire season, and star forward Nikita Wilson failed two courses in the fall semester, ruling him out for the spring semester.^[3] As a result of these losses, Ricky Blanton switched positions from guard to center, and team captain Don Redden said at the time that the Tigers had "gone from an NBA-size team to a big junior high team."^[2] The team was then hit with a chickenpox outbreak, with star forward John Williams and backup forward Bernard Woodside hospitalized for a week and the team quarantined for several days. LSU was forced to reschedule what was intended to be a nationally televised game against Auburn due to a lack of healthy players, and coach Dale Brown even went so far as to draft football player Chris Carrier as emergency cover.^[2]

Roster

1985–86 LSU Tigers men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	10	Derrick Taylor	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	RS Sr	Redemptorist HS	Baton Rouge, LA
G	11	Anthony Wilson	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	192 lb (87 kg)	Jr	Plain Dealing HS	Plain Dealing, LA
G	14	Edwin Wilson	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	150 lb (68 kg)	So	LaGrange HS	Lake Charles, LA
G	15	Ocie Conley	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	179 lb (81 kg)	So	Lee HS	Marianna, AR
G	20	Neboisha Bukumirovich	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	So	Medical HS, Belgrade	Nikšić, Yugoslavia
G	21	Dennis Brown (I)	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	169 lb (77 kg)	Jr	Woodlawn HS	Baton Rouge, LA
F	24	John Williams	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	237 lb (108 kg)	So	Crenshaw HS	Los Angeles, CA
F	25	Chris Carrier	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	Eunice HS	Eunice, LA
F	30	Bernard Woodside	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	207 lb (94 kg)	So	St. Agnes Cathedral HS	Hempstead, NY
G	31	Oliver Brown	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jr	University HS	Baton Rouge, LA
G/F	33	Ricky Blanton	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	So	Killian HS	Miami, FL
F	41	Nikita Wilson	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jr	Leesville HS	Leesville, LA
C	43	José Vargas	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	So	Evangelico Central	La Romana, Dominican Republic
G/F	44	Don Redden (C)	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	213 lb (97 kg)	Sr	Ouachita HS	Monroe, LA
C	45	Zoran Jovanovich	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)	247 lb (112 kg)	So	Fifth HS	Belgrade, Yugoslavia

Head coach

Dale Brown (Minot State)

Assistant coach(es)

Ron Abernathy (Morehead State)
Bo Bahnsen (LSU)
Johnny Jones (LSU)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
11/22/1985*	No. 14	Montana State	W 84–59	1–0	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
11/27/1985*	No. 12	at Washington	W 70–61	2–0	Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, WA
11/30/1985*	No. 12	at BYU–Hawaii	W 89–71	3–0	Laie, HI
12/01/1985*	No. 12	at Hawaii Pacific	W 101–89	4–0	Honolulu, HI
12/02/1985*	No. 12	at Hawaii Loa	W 77–68	5–0	Kaneohe, HI
12/03/1985*	No. 11	at Hawaii–Hilo	W 70–61	6–0	Hilo, HI
12/14/1985*	No. 11	Hardin–Simmons	W 87–71	7–0	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
12/16/1985*	No. 11	at Lamar	W 74–57	8–0	Montagne Center Beaumont, TX
12/17/1985*	No. 9	at Texas	W 72–65	9–0	Frank Erwin Center Austin, TX
12/20/1985*	No. 9	Southeastern Louisiana LSU Invitational semifinal	W 82–61	10–0	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
12/21/1985*	No. 9	Southern LSU Invitational Final	W 91–83	11–0	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
12/30/1985*	No. 9	Oral Roberts	W 82–64	12–0	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
SEC regular season
01/02/1986	No. 8	Georgia	W 85–73	13–0 (1–0)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
01/04/1986	No. 8	Mississippi State	W 90–84	14–0 (2–0)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
01/09/1986	No. 8	at Alabama	L 67–83	14–1 (2–1)	Memorial Coliseum Tuscaloosa, AL
01/11/1986	No. 8	at Tennessee	L 77–88	14–2 (2–2)	Stokely Athletic Center Knoxville, TN
01/13/1986	No. 8	Ole Miss	W 86–68	15–2 (3–2)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
01/18/1986	No. 14	Vanderbilt	W 84–67	16–2 (4–2)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
01/22/1986	No. 14	at Florida	L 65–74	16–3 (4–3)	O'Connell Center Gainesville, FL
01/29/1986	No. 17	No. 8 Kentucky	L 52–54	16–4 (4–4)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
02/01/1986	No. 17	at Georgia	L 76–92	16–5 (4–5)	Georgia Coliseum Athens, GA
02/02/1986*	No. 17	at Georgetown	L 72–74	16–6	Capital Centre Landover, MD
02/04/1986		at Auburn	W 63–61	17–6 (5–5)	Memorial Coliseum Auburn, AL
02/05/1986		at Mississippi State	W 68–62	18–6 (6–5)	Humphrey Coliseum Mississippi State, MS
02/09/1986		No. 20 Alabama	L 71–80	18–7 (6–6)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
02/12/1986		Tennessee	W 75–50	19–7 (7–6)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
02/15/1986		at Ole Miss	L 57–58	19–8 (7–7)	Tad Smith Coliseum Oxford, MS
02/20/1986		at Vanderbilt	W 74–68	20–8 (8–7)	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, TN
02/22/1986		Florida	W 80–69	21–8 (9–7)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
02/26/1986		Auburn	L 86–92	21–9 (9–8)	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
03/01/1986		at No. 5 Kentucky	L 57–68	21–10 (9–9)	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
SEC tournament
03/06/1986 LSN	(5)	vs. (4) Florida Quarterfinals	W 72–66	22–10	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
03/07/1986 LSN	(5)	at (1) No. 4 Kentucky Semifinals	L 58–61	22–11	Rupp Arena Lexington, KY
NCAA tournament
03/13/1986*	(11 SE)	vs. (6 SE) Purdue First round	W 94–87 ^{2 OT}	23–11	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
03/15/1986*	(11 SE)	vs. (3 SE) Memphis State Second round	W 83–81	24–11	LSU Assembly Center Baton Rouge, LA
03/20/1986*	(11 SE)	vs. (2 SE) Georgia Tech Regional semifinals	W 70–64	25–11	The Omni Atlanta, GA
03/22/1986*	(11 SE)	vs. (1 SE) Kentucky Regional Finals	W 59–57	26–11	The Omni Atlanta, GA
03/29/1986*	(11 SE)	vs. (2 W) Louisville Semifinals	L 77–88	26–12	Reunion Arena Dallas, TX
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

^[4]

References

^ Top five lowest seeds to make the NCAA Final Four - College Basketball - Rivals.com
^ ^a ^b ^c Guilbeau, Glenn (March 29, 2016). "30 years ago: LSU basketball's improbable Final 4 run made headlines". New Orleans: WWL-TV. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c Wilbon, Michael (February 2, 1986). "LSU, a Team Full of Trouble, Faces Georgetown Today". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
^ *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 899–900. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1] Top five lowest seeds to make the NCAA Final Four - College Basketball - Rivals.com

[Guilbeau-2] Guilbeau, Glenn (March 29, 2016). "30 years ago: LSU basketball's improbable Final 4 run made headlines". New Orleans: WWL-TV. Retrieved January 31, 2018.

[Wilbon-3] Wilbon, Michael (February 2, 1986). "LSU, a Team Full of Trouble, Faces Georgetown Today". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 31, 2018.

[ESPN-4] *ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. Random House. 2009. pp. 899–900. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

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