BATON ROUGE — Prior to his team’s trip to Oxford, Miss., to face Ole Miss, LSU head coach Trent Johnson and a couple of his players spoke to the media on Thursday. Watch video of the interview for free in the Geaux Zone.
Men’s Basketball Press Conference
January 15, 2009
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON
Opening Statement …
“Ole Miss is very impressive; I’d hate to see them when they have the three players that are injured. I think Andy (Kennedy) has done not a good job, a great job. What I’m impressed with more than anything is that they’re very tough and they exemplify their head coach’s personality. There’s a reason why they’re beating Arkansas and there’s a reason why they were down 20 points on the road to Florida and had an opportunity to be in the ball game and win the ball game down the stretch. We need to play well as usual; there’s nothing to change from our standpoint.”
On Tasmin Mitchell …
“I’ve heard a lot going into this year about how passionate he was and what kind of kid he was and he’s every bit of that. It’s painful for me to see him not play well sometimes and not play up to his standards sometimes. I think he’s a guy who has a knack and understands how to score. There’s a reason he is the caliber of player he is.”
On Bo Spencer …
“Bo has improved a lot. Bo is probably our most improved player. What you have to understand about Bo is beneath all that swagger so to speak there’s a highly intelligent, highly competitive person. We’ve been very pleased with how he’s handled pressure and how he’s stepped up defensively. He has a level of toughness to him that’s appreciated. He went through a lot this summer and he went through a lot this spring and his growth as a player and a person.”
On how to win at Ole Miss …
“We just have to understand that we’re on the road, but have confidence and trust in your teammates that at crucial times, you’re going to really have to compete and not tighten up. I don’t use words like pressure, but you have to relax on offense because you don’t play defense and offense at the same speed. For whatever it’s worth, we had more guys flying towards the ball here on the floor and in the stands last night than we did in the last two games at Utah and Alabama and I can’t put a finger on that. Obviously this is a group that hasn’t won a lot of games on the road, but they understand that and they’re growing in that department and understand we have to compete at a high level. So we have to take care of the ball, we have to rebound, we have to defend and we have to do those things better. Ultimately in crucial situations whoever is playing the best at that given time is going to have to step up and make a play. Garret Temple made plays here against Washington State when the game hung in the balance, Marcus (Thornton) made a play or two. On the road at Texas A&M guys didn’t make plays. At Utah, we should’ve stayed on the bus and went home. At Alabama guys didn’t make plays. I have to find a way to keep them confident and make them understand they have to be tougher and all those kinds of things.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On playing at Ole Miss …
“Ole Miss is a hostile environment, even though they lost two starters one of their best guards in Chris Warren. They’re still a very good basketball team; they’re very scrappy. When you go to Ole Miss it’s very hard to win. The only way to win on the road in this league is to play great defense and to knock down open shots. Against Alabama, we had a couple we didn’t knock down and we didn’t guard in the second half like we should have. We’re going to have to guard their perimeter players who like to drive a lot and just knock down some shots that their defense gives us. It’s going to be a tough game, but we just have to stick together and play hard.”
On Ole Miss …
“That’s a good, hard team. Even though they lost two or three players, they’re not going to give up. We watched film on them and got a feel for what kind of team they are. We’re just going to prepare hard for them.”