Tigers lose Farrer for at least 6 weeks

• Advocate news services
• Published: Nov 11, 2009 - Page: 2C

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LSU guard Alex Farrer dislocated his left kneecap early in a Sunday scrimmage in Houston.

Coach Trent Johnson said the injury will sideline the fifth-year senior for at least six weeks.

Johnson said the ball was on the other side of the floor, and the guy Farrer was guarding made a simple cut to the baseline. He said Farrer turned and “It was just one of those freak things.”

Last season Farrer, from Phoenix, played in 32 games, averaging 1.7 points and 0.8 rebounds a game. He started 14 games during the 2007-08 season, averaging 3.0 points and 17.6 minutes.

In three years at LSU, he’s played in 73 games.

LSU opens its season Friday against Louisiana-Monroe. Tip off is at 7 p.m.

Ticket giveaway set

The LSU Athletics Department and basketball coach Trent Johnson will provide up to 500 tickets each night for LSU students to next week’s Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off event at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

LSU will face Indiana State on Monday, then either Western Kentucky or Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Tuesday. The first 500 LSU students will be admitted free each night.

The athletics department had initially announced it would cover the ticket cost for 250 students. At his media session on Tuesday, Johnson matched the pledge.

Usually, students are admitted free to men’s basketball games with their student ID, up to the capacity of the student section. But under NIT rules, the cheapest ticket for students is $4.

The Athletic Department will cover that cost for the 250 students that fill the Maravich Maniacs section in the lower bowl of the building. Johnson will cover another group of 250 for general admission seating in parts of the student section.

Gates for the two nights of doubleheaders will open each day at 3:30 p.m., one hour before the 4:30 first-game tip-off.