BATON ROUGE — The LSU Tigers, after a week on the road, looks to rebound in Southeastern Conference play Wednesday night when they host the South Carolina Gamecocks at 7 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers, 12-3 on the season, are coming off a 65-59 loss at Alabama on Sunday, while South Carolina, under first-year coach Darrin Horn, are 12-2 on the year and 1-0 in the SEC East after winning 68-56 over Auburn on Saturday.
The game will not be televised live but will be shown at 10 p.m. CST on Cox Sports TV and the radio broadcast will be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger) and in the “Geaux Zone” at LSUsports.net.
Tickets are available online at LSUsports.net and will be available on game night beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Center. Tickets start at $14 with youth tickets (age 3-12) at $5. LSU students are admitted with their ID and the first 100 students will receive free nachos and soda.
The popular magical husband-wife team “Quick Change” will return to the Assembly Center to perform at halftime.
The Tigers will be looking for a quick change of fortune in their one home game of the week before going to Oxford to take on Ole Miss on Wednesday. LSU will also be trying to protect one of the longest winning streaks in the 38-year history of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Tigers are 12-0 this year at home and combined with wins in the final three SEC games of a year ago have the fifth longest winning streak in the arena of 15 games.
For the 16th consecutive game, certainly another potential LSU record, the Tigers will be expected to start the one and only lineup it has used all season featuring seniors Marcus Thornton and Garrett Temple along with sophomore Bo Spencer at guards, junior forward Tasmin Mitchell and senior Chris Johnson at center.
Thornton, who had his 11th consecutive double figure scoring game against Alabama with 21 points, is averaging a team best 18.5 points per game. Mitchell (14.1) and Spencer (12.3) are also scoring in double figures. Thornton is ranked fifth in the league in scoring, while Chris Johnson, who had 10 boards against the Tide and is ranked ninth in the league in rebounding at 7.2 a contest.
The Gamecocks, whose only losses were to College of Charles on the road in overtime and undefeated Clemson, is averaging 81 points per game and is led in scoring by junior guard Devan Downey at 19.7 points per game with 4.3 assists per game. Zam Fredrick is scoring at a 16.1 points per game clip.
After this game, the Tigers go on the road to face Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon in Oxford before returning back home for games against Mississippi State (Nov. 21) and nationally-ranked Xavier (Nov. 24).
LSU Post-practice Media Session
January 13, 2009
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON
Opening statement…
“School is back in session, so we had a good practice. I’m looking forward to competing against a very good South Carolina team that is probably as quick a basketball team as we’ve faced all year. They come with full-court pressure and pressure in the half-court. Devan Downey is probably as good as any kid in our league. Like I told the players at practice, when you look at all of the SEC teams that I’ve watched on tape or the one team (Alabama) that we faced in person, I’m not so sure there is a kid that is doing more for his team than this young man is. He’s a good on-ball defender. He’s very explosive in the open court. He’s very impressive when he’s weakside defensively.
“For us, we need to come out and do the same old things we’ve been trying to do from game to game ? compete at a high level, really rebound, defend and take care of the ball. Our transition defense is really going to be tested unlike it’s been tested all year long just because of their explosiveness. They basically play with all five guards. It’s another game in the league, and every game in the league and every game all year is important. We all know that we need to bring our ?A’ game, so to speak, defend with a sense of urgency, compete with a sense of urgency and play through things.”
On if returning home makes a difference…
“No, it doesn’t because again, for us to continue to get better and not take steps backward, we need to treat home and road the same. Good teams, good players, tough teams, tough players ?mentally and physically ? they win on the road, and they win at home. It doesn’t matter where they play or who they play; they’re ready to compete at a high level. I know the kids are excited about being back home, but the five players that are on the floor for our opponent are the ones we are concerned about. This team beat a very good Baylor basketball team on the road when Baylor was ranked No. 20 in the country. For me, that’s how I feel, but I know the kids in general are excited about being home and opening a SEC game at home.”
On if it’s important to think of this game as a very big game…
“I always talk about the game you play is the most important game. This is different than football. The most important game is the last game you could possibly play. You could be 9-20, and that game, the last game, if you continue to win, you will have a chance to continue to play like Georgia. I’m more concerned like I always am and always will be about us competing at a high level and not taking any steps backward and doing the little things that are big things. Against Alabama, we didn’t play through some things. Some guys got chucked off the ball. We didn’t beat them at crucial times to loose balls or rebounds. We didn’t come back to the ball in the air at crucial situations when we were in striking distance. All those things are what I’m concerned about, not if the second league game being the most important. I’ve been in situations where we have been 1-3 or 0-3 in league play, and we play well down the stretch. It’s about us as a basketball team becoming mentally tougher at crucial times and finishing plays whether it’s defense or offense. For me, I want to win every game. I don’t care.”
On South Carolina’s quickness…
“They can break you down off the dribble at four spots. Defensively, they are constantly applying pressure whether it’s at the four position or the three position or at the two or one positions. Downey is not a good on-ball defender; he’s excellent. He reminds me quickness-wise of Tajuan Porter of Oregon, but with the ball in his hands, he reminds me of a guy I’m very fond of, Brevin Knight. That’s a concern.”