BATON ROUGE – LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson visited with the local media Thursday prior to Saturday’s 2011-12 season opening contest with Nicholls State University scheduled for a noon tipoff at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Admission to the game is free of charge. Season ticket holders have received their tickets including a free ticket for their normal seats in the arena. The game is part of a basketball-football doubleheader on the LSU campus on homecoming weekend as the No. 1-ranked LSU football team hosts Western Kentucky at 6 p.m.
In honor of the day’s theme to “wear purple” the LSU basketball team will wear their purple jerseys at home for the first time since the days of Coach Dale Brown.
There will be no live television broadcast for the game. The game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network (100.7 FM the Tiger in Baton Rouge) and the scoreboard video of the game will be streamed as a free preview of the Geaux Zone at www.LSUsports.net/live.
Gates open at 10:30 a.m. and there will be a free shuttle service picking up fans for the basketball starting two hours prior to the game from the Hayfield and Levee lots. The service will also run for an hour following the game with the pickup spot on the practice facility side of the Maravich Center.
Here are some of Coach Johnson’s comments from today’s media session:
Trent Johnson Press Conference
November 10, 2011
Head Coach Trent Johnson
Opening statement…
“Two more days can’t get here soon enough. The guys are a little testy. We have been very physical amongst ourselves. I don’t think Saturday afternoon could get here fast enough. We made some really good improvements. When you look at all the scrimmages amongst ourselves and the scrimmage with four other opponents, Rice being one, I think there is a great improvement in our ability to make plays amongst ourselves, individually and collectively. Probably more importantly, our ability to take care of the ball has improved. That is going to help us stay in games as well as win games.
“Rebounding and defending is where we need to improve right now. A lot of it has to do with us changing defenses. Sometimes you are out of position as opposed to in the past when we have stuck to primarily one defense going into the season. We have three primary defenses because we are going to be in situations this year where we have to get people out of rhythm and change defenses on the fly. The most important thing is that we have to get through (Thursday) and (Friday) healthy. We are not going to back off in terms of how intense we are in practice. One of the things with this group, because nobody has really separated themselves, is, are we going to sustain our intensity all the way up until we play.”
On what the team is good at…
“Versus certain people, talking talent, speed, quickness, and strength, we are going to be able to play extremely fast. We are going to be able to pick up full court, and we are going to be able to defend. I haven’t had that since I have been here. The group I had the first year when we were seven deep at times we were able to play a certain way, but if we had lost someone like Garrett (Temple) through fouls or a Chris Johnson we had to really massage it on the defensive end. Based off our conditioning, we are going to be able to really get up, play fast and defend fast with a since of urgency. We are going to be balanced in terms of scoring the ball. It started in Italy. One scrimmage Andre (Stringer) led us in scoring, one scrimmage it was Storm (Warren), another it was Anthony (Hickey), one other scrimmage it was Justin (Hamilton). When you look at that, the one guy that I know will score the ball for us is Ralston (Turner). We have a chance to be really balanced.”
On opening the season with Nicholls State…
“I don’t get caught up on who we play, or when we play on any given year. My whole thing has been about competition. Basketball has so much parity, and it has been like this for the last six or seven years. You need to be ready to compete at a high level. We all want to be playing the last game at the end of the year, and this is competition. Last year was last year, and this year is this year. When you compete at a high level you will win your share of games.”
On using three defensive schemes…
“We know going into a game based off scouting reports this is how we are going to have to play. This is what we are going to try to do to impose our will on the defensive end and be prepared to make adjustments during the course of the game and from game-to-game.”
On who will start…
“It is always going to be a game day decision. Nobody has separated themselves. Look at our post-play group; we have four starters that I feel really comfortable with. To be successful at a high level, we are going to need everybody. We have 12 guys and we are going to need all 12.”
On the improvement from last year…
“Eddie (Ludwig) is in a different position. He is not underneath the basket and has shown the ability to knock down open shots consistently. Malcolm (White) is in a situation where he is rotating back between the four and five. The addition of Justin enables him to not be out there for an extended period of time against a kid who may be bigger than him. Storm is the same way and not playing out of position. The improvement of Chris (Bass), Ralston (Turner) and Andre (Stringer) has been impressive. That is what you expect. They are always going to get bigger, stronger and have more confidence amongst themselves. They have spent a majority of their time working on their individual skills and that is what helps.”
On the adjustments for Anthony Hickey…
“The adjustment to the speed of the game hasn’t affected Anthony much because he is quick. When you talk about the rigors of practice and the physicality of him getting into the lane, he was able to make any play he wanted to in high school. Now when he gets in the lane, the four-foot runners are not going to be there. Being able to understand the change of speeds and playing extremely fast and then being able to slow it down and play in the half court. That has been the biggest adjustment for him. I am really excited to see how he is going to play against other people.”
On starting off the season on a good note…
“It is always important to win early especially when your confidence level is down because this group of guys has been through some negative things. With this team it is important that you win your share of games early. This was a team last year because of their lack of skills, because of their lack of size, and because of how young they were had an opportunity to quit. Those kids kept playing and now we are bigger, stronger, and deeper. College basketball this year is very talented and we have an opportunity. We are going to be forced to play at a high level starting this Saturday.”