BATON ROUGE – LSU Coach Trent Johnson said in his Thursday media session that Ralston Turner, barring any setbacks in practice Thursday and Friday, could play Saturday night when the Tigers travel to Tuscaloosa to take on the University of Alabama.
The Tigers (10-10, 2-3) and the Tide (12-7, 4-1) meet at 7 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum in a game regionally televised on FSN and ESPN3.
Here are some of Coach Johnson’s comments from Thursday’s media session:
Opening Statement …
“I thought from a competitive standpoint we were as good as we have been in probably a couple of weeks. You start from 1 through 12 and the athleticism and their speed and quickness sort of wore us down. Before the half we had three huge possessions where we had a loose ball and a guy on the perimeter leaking out at the post and coming back in and rebounding and then we had a post guy do the same thing. We missed two block outs, so you are in a situation there if you can capitalize on taking care of the ball or rebounding the ball you don’t give them an opportunity to go in and capitalize on all three plays. Then there was an offensive rebound on one end and we took an ill-advised three and they went down and scored. Those kinds of things against a team on the road of that caliber put us behind the eight ball.
“Obviously we are aware. Storm (Warren) didn’t play, we are well aware of Ralston (Turner’s) situation and Malcolm (White) didn’t practice for a day and a half prior to the game. I thought for the most part the guys did what they are capable of doing in those circumstances. We had a lot of open shots but sometimes the shots don’t go down, and if you can’t keep people in front and you can’t stop people then that’s a problem. The injury status right now to my knowledge is Storm is going to be out (Thursday), we will look at him (Friday) morning. We are going to do nothing (Thursday) but shoot free throws and watch a little video. We will work certain guys out and we are going to look at Ralston full speed, and then we will have a full scale practice (Friday) morning. As it relates to Ralston, he is good to go. He could have played (Wednesday at Tennessee) and he probably could have played Friday of last week, but make no mistake about it he hasn’t played in an SEC league game yet and he’s a freshman, so it’s not like he’s going to come back Saturday and just carry us to the promise land. Unfortunately for him in his first game back he’s playing against probably the best defensive team in our league and a very physical, experienced group. The thing I like about his approach to this is he just wants to be in a situation where he can help his teammates and it has been hard for him to sit there and look at them struggle.
“We’ve got eleven games and I thought for the first time I felt there was a sense of ultimate frustration with the group because they didn’t expect themselves to be in this situation and they know they are capable of playing better. We just have to continue to stay together as group, continue to work and take it from there.”
On Storm Warren‘s injury …
“No it has been a situation where it has been day to day. The way I understand the injury is, for us older folks, is it would be like you are trying to get up too fast and you strain your back. For him it’s his Achilles, and it’s really tender. The only way it will completely heal is for him to stop working out and stop playing for a while, and Storm wants no part of that. Storm would have liked to have played the other day, so no it’s not a case of him coming back too early, and that’s not from me it’s from our medical people. I think (trainer) Shawn Eddy and our medical people have done an exceptional job keeping this group of guys together and intact so we can go out and have a chance to play a game.”
On how Ralston Turner coming back affects Matt Derenbecker in the lineup …
“If nothing happens to Ralston or Matt between now and Saturday we will start Andre (Stringer), Ralston, and Matt, and bring Aaron (Dodson) off the bench.”
On Andre Stringer – are teams defending him better or has he hit a wall? …
“I hope you understand I am just not big on excuses. One of the things I try and always do is ask them how they are feeling. I think that is one thing I do decent is I have a gage on the guys conditioning and if they’re hurt and all that. I think it is a combination of defenses sometimes and him maybe not getting in the gym shooting like he needs to. He is a freshman, and all of them hit the wall a little bit, and it’s not like he is playing the two, three or four, he is handling the ball a lot. Also, these are things we talked about in the recruitment process and things we worked on in the spring and fall. He just has to continue to work and fight his way through it. Yes it’s a grind, but anytime I talk to him and ask him how he is feeling he says he’s fine.”
On if he finds himself being more of a counselor than a coach …
“Yes, I would say that from the standpoint that I have a young group. Like I said they were frazzled last night. For me it’s like we continue to stay with three sets offensively when they were up 20 because the big picture is we have to execute this. We have to do something good against good people before we can move on. There were times where guys got away from what we were doing, it didn’t matter what Tennessee was doing. I took a time out and told them ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is what we’re doing and we’re going to move forward when we get this done right.’ That is one of the things when things aren’t going well, regardless of what else is going on, is you can lose sight of what is best for your team if you don’t stay the course. In this day and age, they hear what everybody is talking about. You are never as bad as people say and you are never as good as people say.”
On Eddie Ludwig playing well …
“It’s the first time since he has been here where he stayed aggressive. He shot the mid-range jump shot and hit it, then he attacked the rim and he got it blocked. Usually in the past he would deviate from the next open shot but he knocked down a three, then he attacked the rim again. We need that from him, we work on that often. If he can get better and continue to improve, when he knocks down that high post jump shut it is going to open our offense up. It was nice to see, he was really competitive. He had a lot of fight in him. We need guys to stay aggressive and look to score.”
On Alabama being such a good defensive team …
“They change a lot of defenses. They had success last year, but I just think it was the implementation of it. It has to do with players and their athletic ability, strength, quickness, and toughness. Like I said earlier, (Senario) Hillman seems like he has been there forever and JaMychal Green and (Chris) Hines have been there for a while. They are just very impressive. Their overall athleticism and length, the system itself and those guys being around helps them.”