BATON ROUGE – LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson met with the media on Friday in preparation for Sunday’s noon contest with nationally-ranked Florida at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The game will be televised by ESPN and Quick Change will perform at halftime. Tickets are available online at www.LSUtix.net and beginning on game day at 10:30 a.m. at the PMAC’s upper concourse ticket windows.
Here are some of Coach Johnson’s comments:
“We’re going to watch some video on Florida and probably watch a little tape on some of the breakdowns we had from a turnover perspective from (Thursday’s) game. It’s an early game on Sunday and we have some guys banged up, but I’m more worried about the mental approach than anything. It’s really apparent that we just need to be in the gym maybe an hour, at the most.
“For me there were two teams in my own little closet that I thought would be at the forefront of this league. In the West it was probably the team we played last night, and then Florida. They’ve got a mix of seniors, juniors and freshmen. When you look at what Billy (Donovan) has done there, so much has been brought up about one-and-done’s and two-and-pro’s, one of the reason they’ve been so consistent as a program is their blend of seniors, juniors and sophomores. A guy graduates and the next guy steps in and they don’t have big drops in the program. Chandler Parsons seems like he’s been there forever. My first year when he came to our place I thought how are you going to guard him? He’s big, he shoots it, he runs and he moves. (Erving) Walker is as quick as all get out. Then what they have going on in the post with (Alex) Tyus and (Vernon) Macklin, they’re special. They’re really solid, they guard you and they can play fast or play slow. I think this is a basketball team without question that’s going to go deep in the tournament. I really believe that.
“As it relates to us, there were some improvements last night that we got to the same position in the game with four or five minutes to go and we didn’t make a play. We were in position to make plays and we didn’t make plays. I thought we played a good basketball game for 32-35 minutes, then the best team made plays and we didn’t.”
On the good start against Alabama …
“Obviously with any team you want to get off to a good start, but it’s real important for our basketball team because we don’t have the depth, athleticism, or experience that when you fall behind to go out and generate easy baskets off of turnovers. With this team we need to get off to a good start. The thing I concentrate on most with these guys is talking about why you have to set good, solid and physical screens, why you need to come back to the ball with two hands and why you have to be aggressive no matter who you’re playing against. We did that for the most part. Then we were able to keep our composure in the second half when Alabama started to get some separation. It’s real important for us to get off to good starts at the start of the game and the start of the half.”
On if the inability to make plays at the end of the game is due to inexperience …
“Yes. It’s having been there and done that. I want to go back to if we would have beaten Wichita State or Coastal Carolina, would that mean we were a good basketball team? That gives kids confidence, but sooner or later you are going to play against someone who is better than you are, and then you’re going to have to make that same play.”
On the turnovers against Alabama …
“We had 17 turnovers, nine of which were unforced. In the second half they didn’t press us because I thought in the first half we did a good job of cracking the pressure and making some plays on the back end. I think you have a different type of pressure with (Kenny) Boykin and (Erving) Walker, because Walker is a handful. He can cause a lot of problems, and he will cause a lot of problems.”
On Andre Stringer‘s recent struggles …
“I think because of the caliber of players he’s coming up against sometimes he’s having a hard time trying to pick and choose when he can find his shot, and sometimes I think he’s trying to do too much. People are doing a good situation against him. He’s in a different situation than Bruce Ellington or Trevor Releford, (Andre’s) got a freshman on both wings.”
On Malcolm White‘s performance against Alabama’s big men …
“Malcolm has been working extremely hard, he is right up there physically with JaMychal (Green) and (Chris) Hines, I just wish he wouldn’t have gotten cramps. From a pure explosive and rebound standpoint, Malcolm matches up with a lot of people in the league. It’s just a matter of knocking down open shots, understanding your second and third options, and understanding what we want to do offensively. He’s played well the last four or five games in terms of overall intensity, rebounding and staying out of foul trouble.”