BATON ROUGE – Tasmin Mitchell and Alex Farrer will make their final appearance in uniform in an LSU men’s basketball home game Saturday afternoon when the Tigers and Georgia meet at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 4 p.m.
The senior day ceremony prior to the game, which will be regionally televised by FSN, will begin at approximately 3:45 p.m.
The game 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 are available for the contest online at www.LSUtix.net and at the upper concourse ticket windows beginning at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Mitchell and Farrer are both fifth-year seniors with Mitchell having missed the 2007-08 season due to injury and Farrer redshirted in 2005-06 as a freshman. Farrer has yet to play this season after suffering a dislocated kneecap in a preseason scrimmage but has been cleared to play and has dressed since the Feb. 13 Vanderbilt game. Coach Trent Johnson said he will be in the starting lineup with Mitchell on Saturday.
“It is very unfortunate for Alex Farrar the circumstances that he has been dealt,” said LSU Coach Trent Johnson Friday in his pregame media session. “He is a fifth year guy, so you feel for him in that regard. I am going to start him (Saturday). Since Alex has been here he has been nothing but an ultimate team guy. For me, my emotions tend to try and stay even keeled and what emotions I will display will be in the privacy of them, that is just how I am.
“Tasmin Mitchell has been well documented. I am not so sure how many guys you will see in college basketball that are fifth year guys that put up the numbers that he has put up. He has won two championships, been to the Final Four and to go through the ups and downs that he has been through and still been really committed to his school and to the team and still have the passion that he has to play is remarkable.”
Mitchell enters the regular season finale that includes one guaranteed game in the SEC Tournament next week, 41 points shy of 2,000 career points at 1,959 (third all-time at LSU). He already has set records for most minutes played, most starts and games played and he is in the top 10 in points, rebounds, assists and steals.
LSU (10-19, 1-14) is coming off a 72-59 loss Thursday at Ole Miss with a short turnaround for the game at home while Georgia lost on Wednesday night at home to Kentucky (80-68) that dropped the Bulldogs to 13-15 overall and 5-10 in the league. The game has the interesting dynamic of the head coaches as Johnson and first-year Georgia head coach Mark Fox have coached together at two different schools (Washington, 1992) and Nevada (2000-04). Fox was Johnson’s Associate Head Coach at Nevada for four years before taking the head job when Johnson moved to the head spot at Stanford.
“Mark and I are extremely close,” said Johnson. “He has helped me in more ways than I have helped him. There is a lot going on there from a standpoint of it is almost like your family is coming home to visit with you a little bit. I am trying to get our guys in a position where you can win games, but Mark is trying to get Georgia their first victory on the road and he is very good at what he has done. Their physicality concerns me because they are physical and they are really good in the post. As far as playing against Mark, LSU is playing Georgia. He is a very competitive individual, a very passionate individual and a very good basketball coach.”
LSU will meet Tennessee on Thursday at 2:15 p.m. in Nashville in the first round of the SEC Basketball Tournament.
Basketball Press Conference
March 5, 2010
LSU HEAD COACH TRENT JOHNSON
On how emotional it is going to be on senior night …
“Obviously when you talk about those two, it is very unfortunate for Alex Farrar the circumstances that he has been dealt. He is a fifth year guy, so you feel for him in that regard. I am going to start him tomorrow. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing, but it is something that I think I need to do just from the standpoint of who we are playing. Georgia is physical, athletic and strong basketball team. Since Alex has been here he has been nothing but an ultimate team guy. For me, my emotions tend to try and stay even keeled and what emotions I will display will be in the privacy of them, that is just how I am.
“Tasmin Mitchell has been well documented. I am not so sure how many guys you will see in college basketball that are fifth year guys that put up the numbers that he has put up. He has won two championships, been to the final four and to go through the ups and downs that he has been through, and still been really committed to his school and to the team and still have the passion that he has to play is remarkable.
“Obviously for me with seniors it is always hard, especially when they give and they are good people. These two are men so it is obviously going to be hard for me. With all that being said, not one of these guys is going to try and channel my emotions. It would have been a little harder if I was 35 or 40, but now that I am 53 and been through a couple of senior classes, one thing I want to do is do the best I can and give them the opportunity to do well and be successful in that setting tomorrow. That is where all my energy and effort is. Then after the game you have an opportunity to reflect and display your emotions. Whether it is right or wrong, the unfair thing about basketball is it is such an emotional game and you don’t have a helmet or a dugout to go hide in. I always try to tell kids and understand that after the game you have 10 to 15 minutes to try and get inside the locker-room and there with the confines of the guys you are around every day you can display your emotions because the game is so emotional. That is hard, but sometimes if you are out there and jumping up and down and have true emotion people look at it as unsportsmanlike. If you are out there and are stoic and methodical people will say you don’t care. There is a common line there. For me it is to always try to educate them, try to stay on an even keel and say ‘It is what it is’ and then sooner or later you will have the opportunity to explain your emotions.”
On if Alex Farrer will play just a couple minutes or longer …
“We are trying to win the game. We are going to try to put ourselves in a situation where we can compete. I would rather start him and see how long he can go and how much help he can give us. That is the bottom line. He is still dragging his knee around. As frustrated as he is for wanting to play versus Auburn or Ole Miss on the road, it didn’t make a lot of sense …
On if he would have started Alex Farrar if it wasn’t senior night …
“There have been times that I have started seniors and there are times that I haven’t. Last year I started the seniors because I thought they were worthy. I felt that it wouldn’t hurt us that much. This year I am going to start him because he is worthy and what he has done in the zone defense and in his ability to pass the ball. Even at 75 to 80 percent it is as good as anyone else we have going on that. Prior to these two previous years, going back to other teams sometimes I haven’t started seniors. It just depends. The bottom line is we are trying to win the game.”
On if Alex Farrer will be able to help them in the SEC Tournament …
“As long as there are no setbacks. That is just common sense. This basketball team that we are playing is extremely physical They have a guy named Travis Leslie that is as good of an athlete as any in the country. Their point-guard play is very good so it is going to be a challenge. The difference in doing it tomorrow, take senior night out of the equation, is it is at home with another week and a half more to try and get him in decent basketball shape. Also the speed and quickness that Auburn and Ole Miss attack you off the dribble on the perimeter whether it is man or zone. Georgia goes inside-out, they are physical and they really want to run the shot clock down and throw the ball into the post.”
On how Tasmin Mitchell has changed since he has been at LSU …
“The special thing about him is whether you win or lose, whether you are an assistant or head coach and whether you are a player or not his respect for people and approach to people is always the same. I see that every day. By no means is anybody perfect, but when it comes to the game of basketball and how caring he is and how receptive he is for teaching and wanting to learn and respecting people he is probably as good as I have been around. That is all you can ask for from an individual is consistency. One thing he won’t do is throw his teammates under the bus. He won’t throw coaches under the bus. The comment he made about playing for me, I am the one who has been fortunate. His Final Four experience, his championship experience all of those are a lot more important to him than playing for me, believe me. That is him always taking the high road and always saying the complementary things. That is what makes him the person he is.”
On playing for the first time against Mark Fox …
“Well obviously it is the first time for me here. There was a situation where I was a head coach at Nevada my first year when we played Montgomery. This is different. Me and Mark are extremely close. He has helped me in more ways than I have helped him. Something we built at Nevada was a combination of his hard work and a guy by the name of Todd Okeson who is on his staff. Also Mark Pope is on his staff and is a guy that I recruited at Washington. There is a lot going on there from a standpoint of it is almost like your family is coming home to visit with you a little bit.
“I am trying to get our guys in a position where you can win games, but Mark is trying to get Georgia their first victory on the road and he is very good at what he has done. I look at Georgia and what he has done there is pretty good. You look at some of the losses they have had in the league compared to some of the wins by beating Georgia Tech, St. Louis, Tennessee, Florida and you can go on down the line. They have got a good group, Travis Leslie is special and he is a special athlete and is becoming a better basketball player. I think Trey Thompkins is probably as good a post there is in the league and we all know how difficult it is to change culture from losing to winning and I think he has done an exceptional job of that. We have our hands full in that regard. Their physicality concerns me because they are physical and they are really good in the post. I remember last year when we played them, they have done an exceptional job in the weight room. As far as playing against Mark, LSU is playing Georgia.
“He is a very competitive individual, a very passionate individual and a very good basketball coach. Everybody at Georgia needs to make sure they buy their tickets now, trust me.”