BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team, looking for the spark that will put them in the win column, returns to action with a rare Thursday night Southeastern Conference tilt against No. 14 Tennessee at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The game, televised by ESPN2, is set for 8 p.m. and College Game Day co-hosts Rece Davis and Hubert Davis will have the call. The radio broadcast will be available on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge) and in the GeauxZone at LSUSports.net. Tickets for the game are also available on the LSU web site and at the upper concourse ticket windows beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The Tigers are 9-12 overall and 0-7 in the SEC, while Tennessee enters the game with a 16-4 mark, 4-2 in the league. Tennessee stopped a two-game losing streak with a 61-60 win at home against Florida last Saturday, while the Tigers fell to Mississippi State, 67-51.
The Tigers didn’t shoot the ball well against State, but showed effort on more consecutive possessions than in previous games and gave some hope for Trent Johnson that things can begin to turn for LSU this season. LSU started freshman walk-on Chris Beattie in that game who played 20 minutes and later freshman Daron Populist came in and ran the point for 22 minutes. At one point with three walk-ons in the game, Beattie, Populist and Zach Kinsley, the Tigers outscored State 9-3 over the final four minutes of the first half to cut a 14-point game to eight at halftime.
“What we are looking for in regards to the whole team is when the ball is swung out,” said Coach Johnson. “We need a guy to make a shot. You look at what’s going on defensively, is Daron Populist a better defender than Chris Bass? Some people say no because Chris Bass has been in the program for two years, but I go back to the Mississippi State game. I put Daron in there against Dee Bost and he did a very good job. He kept (Bost) out of the lane. I feel really good about Chris (Beattie) and Daron because they played well. That speaks volumes for them.”
So it is expected that probably 11 players could see action in the Tennessee contest depending on the game situations and practice preparation by the players leading up to Thursday. Tasmin Mitchell will definitely be in the lineup as continues to count down to possibly 2,000 career points. He scored 26 against State and enters the game with 1,843 points. The Denham Springs senior needs just 12 points to move past Chris Jackson in seventh place all-time in LSU scoring. Mitchell is second in the league in scoring at 17.9 points a game and third in rebounding at 9.6 boards a contest. He has pulled down at least 10 rebounds in each of the last four games.
Tennessee is led by Scotty Hopson, the sophomore guard at 13.6, while center senior center Wayne Chism is averaging 11.8 points per game.
There is a quick turnaround for both teams with this Thursday night late start as both will play on Saturday. LSU hosts Kentucky on the SEC Network at 3 p.m. The afternoon will feature the retirement of the jersey of LSU All-American Rudy Macklin who led the Tigers to the NCAA Final Four in 1981.
Trent Johnson Teleconference
Feb. 2, 2010
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON QUOTES
Opening statement…
“Obviously, I wish I could be there today, but I’m trying to find a guy that can score like Rudy Macklin and Pete Maravich. I find it ironic that we are honoring Pete Maravich and the 40th Anniversary of breaking Oscar Robertson scoring record. Then, Kentucky rolls in, and we are hanging Rudy’s jersey in the rafters. The way we’ve been struggling to score, we could sure use the left arm of Maravich and the right arm of Rudy.”
On what he tells his players on weeks they are honoring legendary players …
“Basically, yesterday before practice, I told them to get on the Web site and follow the history and tradition of these guys as best they could. I talked about Maravich, and one of the comments I thought was special, was one of the best coaches, John Wooden, talked about Pete Maravich being the best passer, hands down, that he’d ever seen. We all know coach Wooden is still alive. Rudy Macklin turned down Kentucky to come here and play under Coach Dale Brown. For me, it’s always been about educating coaches, manager, players before them. We are in a position of where we need to try to get better and go from there, more from the standpoint of the players really know what a good player Rudy Macklin is. They know how special Pete Maravich was because even for a guy like myself, who has been lucky enough to see some of the greats over the years because I’m old, I’ve seen him play and I’ve watched him go up against Murphy and guys like that when I was in eighth and ninth grade.”
On what he is doing to spark the offense …
“Basically, it’s nothing I haven’t said to them before. I look at people playing now and they aren’t worried about Bo from the point he’s playing man, and they are taking away angles in the post. They have to stay aggressive and take good shots in the framework of the offense, and don’t worry about anything. I think you start looking at what Chris Beattie has done … I tell them to continue to stay aggressive, positive and confident within themselves. I’ve never been a coach that puts pressure on guys and worries about free throws and missed shots as long as they are taking good shots within our framework. We just need to stay positive.”
On playing a quick turnaround between Thursday night and Saturday afternoon …
“Today they are just going to have a quick shoot around, and that’s why I’m not there. It enables us to be a little more rested. I think from my standpoint, if you’re good, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing. I know for a lot of coaches this is the first time in the league (the Thursday-Saturday) they might say something different, but for me, it’s pretty much been the same. For our guys, we don’t do much when there are one or two days between games. We use video tapes, film and other preparations. More than anything it’s mental, so much more than it is physical sometimes.”
On Tasmin Mitchell being on the brink of 2,000 points …
“It’s pretty easy for me. When you’ve played as long as he has and won two SEC Championships and been to the Final Four. He’s remained positive and committed to his team and school, it attests the caliber of kid and player he is. Tasmin is a very good basketball player, and there are a lot of guys that are good basketball players. Everything Tasmin has done has been from skill, knowing how to play and studying the game. Not to mention, he’s played inside and outside. For me, just the short time being around him in two years, I can attest to the person and caliber player he is, and how hard he has worked.”
On younger players stepping in…
“I’m expecting anyone that steps in the game gets in there defensively and gives us a lift offensively, we are going to play. I thought Daron Populist did a good job against a very athletic and quick team (at Miss. State Saturday). Chris Beattie has shown he is a guy that gets more minutes because he is making shots. Both of those guys look comfortable coming in and giving us a lift. Yes, they missed a couple of threes, but they had an opportunity to stay within striking range. I’m playing as many guys as possible. We just have to continue to work at it.”
On what he’s looking for with the walk-ons …
“What we are looking for in regards to the whole team, is when the ball is swung out, we need a guy to make a shot. You look at what’s going on defensively, is Daron Populist a better defender than Chris Bass? Some people say no because Chris Bass has been in the program for two years, but I go back to the Mississippi State game. I put Daron in there against Dee Bost and he did a very good job. He kept him out of the lane. For me, I feel really good about Chris and Daron because they played well. That speaks volumes for them.”