Lamar sports information

BEAUMONT — Fans will have their first opportunity to see the 2015-16 Lamar men’s basketball team in action Tuesday when it hosts the annual Red vs. White game. The scrimmage is set to tip off at 7 p.m. at the Montagne Center.

Entering his second season with the Cardinals, head coach Tic Price brings a youthful squad into the new campaign. After going 15-15 (.500) last season and more than doubling its win total from the previous two years combined, LU was recognized for recording one of the nation’s top turnarounds.

For the Cardinals to continue to show similar improvement this season, they will have to rely on a talented, but inexperienced recruiting class. Price and his staff added eight players during the offseason, including six high school prospects. The Cards incoming class will look to pick up the slack from the loss of its top three scorers and top two rebounders from last season. Among those losses are 2015 All-Southland selections Tyran de Lattibeaudiere and Anthony Holliday.

“This is a work in progress,” said Price. “The challenge for us is to make sure that we all understand the serious nature of being a Division I player. Every day we have to stay disciplined and try and work together. When you have a young team, we as coaches have to show patience. There is going to have to be a maturation process because they are learning on the fly. We have to motivate them every day, but at the same time we have to put them in the right system to allow them to be successful.”

LU was picked to finish fifth this season in the Southland’s preseason poll released last week. The Cards received 79 points and were picked sixth in a vote by the league’s media relations directors.