BATON ROUGE – LSU Coach Trent Johnson visited with the media Friday prior to Monday’s game with nationally-ranked Virginia at 6 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Advance tickets, for the game, which does start an hour earlier than the normal LSU start time, can be purchased online at www.LSUtix.net as the LSU ticket office will be closed during the day on Monday. The tickets will go on sale at the Maravich Center at 4:30 p.m.
LSU is 10-3 and winners of seven straight, while Virginia, after winning Friday night against Towson, is now 12-1 on the year and winners of 10 straight.
Here are some of Coach Johnson’s comments from his media session:
Opening statement …
“Virginia is a very, very good basketball team. They’re very efficient offensively and defensively. Mike Scott who did not play last year when we played them in Virginia, is a double double every game out. He’s a special player. Obviously, he’s a fifth year senior, but he’s strong, he’s skilled and he can score in and he can score out. Make no mistake about it, this is not a one-man team. They remind me of some of some of Tony (Bennett’s) really good teams where they can make a tall pass and catch it, and they can shoot very well. For us defensively, we’re going to have to be at our best. This is a team that can play on the half court and can play on the full court in terms of running with opportunities. Defensively, they don’t let you get in the lane. They’re very solid and very sound. There’s going to be a premium on us for the first time all year where we’re going to have to be at our best half court execution in terms of setting good screens. Not having unforced turnovers, making good decisions and making some shots from the framework of our offense. Like most games this time of year, with the more games you win, the next game becomes just as important as the last … We’re going to have to play well.”
On building confidence and experience …
“When you talk about inexperience, when you talk about the majority of the freshmen and what this basketball team has been through the last year and half, you would like to think that winning builds confidence. For us as coaches, and for me as head coach, there is such a thing as false confidence. It’s my responsibility to make sure that they understand that yes, we’ve done a good job, we’ve managed to win games and we managed to compete at a high level, but here’s the next game, here’s the next challenge … that’s where this team is different — individually and collectively, they’re a different type of basketball team with a different type of athlete and a different type of player. The key has always been that your approach to that game is no different than your approach for the last game. That’s the thing that’s hard in athletics right now because so much emphasis is put on March Madness or whatever it might be. Your approach for a game, regardless of who you’re playing against, should always be the same. Therein lies your ability to be a true competitor and compete at a high level.”
On team unity …
“We talk about it all the time. It’s one of the first things I talked about when I first addressed my first LSU team in terms of all of our approaches. It takes time. They had to see us as coaches, they had to see their other teammates and they had to see our habits and how we go about our daily business. Yea, there is some buying in, too. I haven’t seen a team or player who has been like that that has had success. This whole thing is about winning, and we have some great examples in this area professionally. Drew Brees doesn’t have a fake bone in his body, and obviously Chris Paul is like that and our football team in itself are like that. It’s easier said than done. It takes a lot, and you have to go through it. Winning helps. But for this most part, when you start talking about the seniors Storm (Warren), Malcolm (White), Chris (Bass), the juniors have been very unselfish since they’ve been here. A lot of them have played out of position, and that hasn’t been easy.”
On preparing for games defensively …
“We’ve made some adjustments defensively in terms of what we did last year as opposed to what we do this year because we thought we’d be deeper. The most important thing we talk about is probably our mindset. If we’re not right, mentally or physically, or ready to defend at a high level, we’re going to struggle against whoever it is that we’re going to play. I think that’s proven to be true so far this year.”
On Andre Stringer …
“Tomorrow, we might look at him on some five on five, some three on three, and some four on four. His cardiovascular condition is not very good right now. You’re talking about a guy who hasn’t done anything for like 3½ weeks. He’s been working hard, and I think he was a little bit surprised about how bad he was in terms of his conditioning after we took him through a forty-five minute shooting drill (Thursday). We’ll see how (Saturday) goes. He’s in a situation where, like everyone else, he’s going through scout prep and all that kind of stuff, but we’ll see.”