The LSU men’s basketball program will wear throwback uniforms during Saturday’s game against Tennessee (4 p.m. ET on ESPN) in honor of the 1978-79 SEC championship team.
Led by head coach Dale Brown, those Tigers became the first team in program history to beat Kentucky in Lexington and then clinched the conference title in the penultimate game of the regular season, dropping the banner from the rafters in the final minutes of a 20-point win over Alabama.
That season marked LSU’s first SEC championship in 25 years and laid the foundation for the Tigers to win their first and only conference tournament title in 1979-80. They then followed that up with another regular season SEC championship and trip to the Final Four in 1980-81.
The players supposedly did not care for the uniforms, which feature a gold script “Louisiana State” – with stars dotting the ‘I’s – across the front of the jersey and a predominantly gold side panel down the right side of the jersey featuring several purple stars.
The design from the side panel also wraps around the bottom of the left leg of the shorts, creating an asymmetrical design that could be seen on the left sleeve and pant leg of the 1979 team’s warmup gear. It’s unclear if those will return on Saturday, though.
Photos courtesy of @LSUBasketball on Twitter.