BATON ROUGE – LSU men’s basketball Head Coach Trent Johnson met with the media on Thursday in preparation for Saturday’s Southeastern Conference opener at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against the Ole Miss Rebels.
The game is set for 12:45 p.m. and will be broadcast on the SEC Network and on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (New Country 100.7 FM The Tiger in Baton Rouge). Tickets are on sale at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUtix.net.
The first 3,000 fans will receive the second in the series of legends bobble heads, this time all-time rebound leader at LSU, Rudy Macklin. Also the LSU Cheerleaders and Tiger Girls will at halftime debut their national championship routines that they will take to competition in a few weeks.
Coach Johnson on Thursday addressed the situation regarding freshman forward Johnny O’Bryant III (Left Hand fracture of 4th metacarpal. Occurred in practice on Wednesday in 5-on-0 drill. Hit the rim going for a rebound. Surgery scheduled Thursday night to stabilize fracture site) and senior forward Malcolm White (death in the family).
Head Coach Trent Johnson
Opening statement…
“I am assuming everyone already got the medical report. I really feel for Johnny (O’Bryant III). He was really starting to practice and really starting to play better. He will be out indefinitely. Malcolm White will not be with us Saturday due to the death of this grandmother. The funeral and memorial services will be Saturday. He is going to practice today. Andre Stringer is getting better. He played 24 minutes [against Virginia], so he will continue to get in condition and get up to speed. Justin Hamilton is nursing a sore ankle, but getting better. Moving forward, Ole Miss is very physical, has great size, not good size, great size. (Murphy) Holloway, who had a high ankle sprain, has been out, but I fully expect him to play on Saturday. Our schedule is one that we will get after and go hard today for about an hour and a half. Then we’ll come back (Friday), probably go light, shoot a little bit, go over some dummy offense, 5-on-0, so on and so forth then get ready for opening league play on Saturday at 12:30.”
On playing without Johnny O’Bryant III and Malcolm White …
“Well, we will play Eddie (Ludwig) at the four (position). Eddie has obviously played there his first two years. He now has got to go back underneath, I know he is looking forward to that. Then Jalen (Courtney) is the guy that is capable of playing back at the four and the three (positions) too, and then we have Andrew (Del Piero). The good thing about it is we have been prepared for this in terms of we lost Andre (Stringer) when he was playing extremely well. I just did not think we would be in a situation where we would lose two (players at the same time). This group is pretty resilient. I have not had a chance to visit (with the team) at length about it, but just in looking at their body language, I visited with Andre (Stringer) and Ralston (Turner) before and they are ready to go. This is just part of college basketball. Also, from our standpoint, we have been through this (losing players to injury) before. There is a nucleus of guys on this basketball team that have been through this last year and early on this year. Eddie (Ludwig) will get extended minutes at the four (position).”
On Johnny O’Bryant III‘s injury …
“Johnny (O’Bryant III) has a hand fracture of the fourth metacarpal that occurred in practice yesterday on a 5-on-0 (drill) when he was going to the glass to rebound and caught his hand on the rim. Surgery is scheduled for (Thursday) around 6:30 p.m. It (the medical report) says out indefinitely. Indefinitely could be three, could be four weeks. I do not want to get into analogies of some of the players I have coached with that similar type of injury. Again, the bottom line for me is, I feel for Johnny because he has been playing better, getting better and his practices have been real great. It’s just one of those freak incidents.”
On what the team loses with Johnny’s injury …
“Well, what we lose is obviously our second leading rebounder. He is 6’9, he is 250 (pounds). He is playing well. He’s a starter like Storm (Warren), like Justin (Hamilton), like Malcolm (White) is another guy on our team that we need on the floor in terms of his size, his strength and his skill set. What does he lose? He loses the opportunity to play college basketball. He loses the opportunity as a freshman (to play) in league play. I feel more for him than I do for this team. Yes, he helps us, he makes us better and all those kind of things. But for me, I have always been warned when kids get injured, you hate to see them as hard as they have worked. My thoughts and my prayers right now are more with what’s going on with Malcolm White. You are talking about somebody has lost a family member, and he’s real close to his grandmother. Again, let’s put it all in perspective. We have a game to play. There are guys that are going to step up and guys that are going to play well. I am more worried about one of my players losing a family member than I am worried about secondly a guy that’s got injured and will miss his opening game in league play as a freshman.”
On regaining momentum after the loss of the two players …
“We are going to continue to grind. This is a different team, this is a different year. Obviously, like I said earlier, Eddie’s (Ludwig) two years now he has played the four, which has basically been out of position. He is stronger, but this thing becomes a game of match-ups. We have to continue to do what we do best, defend and rebound. Our rebounding will be really tested because that is what Ole Miss is strong at. We have to play to our strength versus certain teams in certain games. I fully expect these guys to respond, and I shouldn’t have any reason not too because they have done it when we lost Andre (Stringer).”
On whether Eddie Ludwig has practiced at the four position this season …
“No, because when we break perimeter and post, we are shooting and going into the year for his development and for our team, it was best to keep him at the three (position). Eddie (Ludwig) is very bright in terms of what we do offensively and defensively. Like I said, he has played there for two years. It is not going to be anything where he is not going to be comfortable … There is a familiarity, there is a comfort zone with Eddie (Ludwig) so he should be fine.”
On Jalen Courtney …
“He will go back and forth if needed. Obviously, if we run into foul trouble with Justin (Hamilton), Storm (Warren) or Eddie (Ludwig) and we will use Andrew (Del Piero) if need be. Jalen (Courtney) and Eddie (Ludwig) will both get a bounce back between the four and the three (positions).”
On Malcolm White‘s return …
“I do not know. All I know is this, I told him that’s your family and you take as long as you need to. He is out here now, he wants to practice and me personally I want him to get away, but he feels he needs to be here. That speaks volumes to the kind of kid he is.”
On the SEC …
“Again, you look from top-to-bottom all I think you have to do is look at the won-loss records. There is a bunch of us at 10-4. Kentucky has one loss, Mississippi State has two, there is a bunch of people that have three losses. The bottom team is Tennessee in terms of won-loss perspective. They have played an unbelievable schedule and have been in every game. The job that Coach Martin has done in keeping that thing on pulse and keeping those guys competing with some of the people they have played and where they have been speaks volumes to how strong this league is. I mean you just look at some of our non-conference wins versus certain people. So, from top-to-bottom, it (the SEC) is strong. It is survival of the fittest, and it is about to get started on Saturday.”