4:45 LRN Sportscast March 4

The LSU Tigers have started play at the Shriners College Classic in Houston’s Minute Maid Park, taking on the Oklahoma Sooners in the first of three games this weekend. The Tigers will also face top-ranked Texas and Baylor, providing LSU with its biggest tests of the young season. Blake Money took the hill against Oklahoma. He’s 2-0 so far, with a 0-point-0 ERA and 17 strikeouts in only 14 innings. All three games air on the MLB Network.

In Nashville, LSU women’s basketball opens play in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. The second-seeded Tigers tip-off against Kentucky at 6pm. Both teams are riding lengthy win streaks, with LSU coming in as winners of eight straight, and the Wildcats have taken their last seven in a row. The Tigers beat Kentucky 78-69 back on January 30 at the P-MAC. LSU last won the conference tournament championship in 2003.

LSU’s men will wrap up the regular season Saturday with a home matinee against 25th-ranked Alabama. The Tigers are eighth in the conference standings, tied with Texas A&M and Mississippi State, so a loss could drop them as low as tenth. Tip-off is at 11 am.

The New Orleans Pelicans have been the NBA’s hottest team since returning from the All-Star break. New Orleans has won three in a row, over the Suns, Lakers, and Kings, and have done so in convincing fashion, winning by an average of better than 24 points per game. The Pels will try to tie their season’s best by picking up win number four against the Utah Jazz tonight at the Smoothie King Center. Willie Green says defense has been the key to their success.

Cut 21 (12) “…looked very good.”

Saints general manager Mickey Loomis spoke to the media at the NFL Scouting Combine on Thursday. Loomis says that finding a quarterback is something the team looks at with a sense of urgency and expressed his interest in re-signing free agent Jameis Winston. Winston led the Saints to a 5-2 start with 14 touchdowns and three interceptions before his season ended with a torn ACL. Loomis also said the Saints need to add depth at receiver, even with the expected return of All-Pro Michael Thomas.