GAME NOTES: The Texas Tech Red Raiders and the LSU Tigers will both try to move to 2-0 on the young season when they meet up at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday night as part of the Tip-Off Marathon.

Texas Tech began its campaign at home on Friday night, escaping with a 71-59 victory over Loyola Maryland. With the win, Tubby Smith became the fifth coach in the program's 90-year history to win his first two season openers.

LSU also experienced a closer-than-expected contest in its first game of the season but it too came away victorious at home by downing Gardner-Webb, 93-82.

The Tigers took down the Red Raiders in December of 2013 in Lubbock, 71-69, but Texas Tech still leads the all-time series, 3-2.

The Red Raiders were shaky early in their first game, as they led by just two heading into intermission, but after shooting only 34.5 percent from the field in the opening stanza, they improved to 44.8 percent after the break and led by double digits for the majority of the second half. They played great defense in the triumph, forcing Loyola to shot just 34 percent from the floor while winning the turnover battle, 15-7. Norense Odiase shined in his debut. The freshman center logged 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Devaugntah Williams netted 13 points on 3-of-4 from 3-point range, while Keenan Evans and Toddrick Gotcher both played important roles off the bench with 10 points apiece.

The Tigers also needed to shake some rust off early in the opener. They went into halftime trailing by one, but after some mid-game adjustments they were able to surge ahead by as many as 16 down the stretch. Although LSU was vulnerable on the defensive end of the floor, allowing Gardner-Webb to shoot 46.7 percent from the field, it kept pace by making greater than 52 percent of its shots overall while holding a 13-3 scoring advantage at the foul line. Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey paced the effort with 21 points apiece, with Martin making it a double-double with 10 rebounds and Mickey adding six boards and six assists. Josh Gray (18 points) and Keith Hornsby (17 points) were both impressive in the backcourt, combining to shoot 5-of-9 from 3-point range.

A hard-fought battle should be in store between two talented squads, but LSU's homecourt advantage will give it the necessary push in crunch time to pull out the win.