BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team put the Arkansas win of Saturday in the rear view mirror Monday and began preparation for Wednesday’s game in Nashville at Memorial Gymnasium against Vanderbilt.
Game time is 8 p.m. CT on CSS/COX4 and on the LSU Sports Radio Network.
Coach Trent Johnson met with the media about his LSU team (13-9, 3-5) and their upcoming trip to face Vandy (16-7, 5-3). Here are some of his comments:
Head Coach Trent Johnson
Opening Statement…
“Vanderbilt is very talented, very experienced and very skilled. For me, I am not so sure anybody has played as tough of a schedule as they have. I don’t think people realize how good of a basketball team a Cleveland State is or a Middle Tennessee is. When you start looking at those scores and see that Vandy got beat by one of them early (Cleveland State) and Middle Tennessee played them really close late, I don’t think people realize. They can play fast, and they can play slow. The thing that probably impresses me the most is that they don’t get enough credit for their mental and physical toughness. Does this challenge for us come at the right time? I think so. We were very fragile going into the Arkansas game, and I felt that we found a way to win. We had some guys make some plays. It is a good time for us to go back out on the road. We’ve gotten close to getting it done. A couple things that we’re going to really have to do well is we’re going to have get to (John) Jenkins, we’re going to really have to get to (Jeffery) Taylor. Taylor, he is a handful because he is so explosive, he is so strong, he is shooting the three well and he can post you. But the things that he does on the defensive side are really impressive. He can guard a one, two and three. He can really take you out of the game. Last year, he was very effective in that regard. They put him on Ralston (Turner) one time and on our point (guard) one time, so he causes a lot of problems. He changes the game not just offensively, but defensively. Obviously, (Brad) Tinsley, who I know really well, he was a kid that we had on campus when I was at Stanford. He is very cerebral, strong and skilled. Again, they are coming off of two losses in a row so obviously at this time of the year you are going to get everybody’s best shot. We will go hard (Monday) and will leave Tuesday around 2:30 or 3 p.m., immediately after school. Malcolm (White) will practice, he’s back out. John’s (Isaac) academic situation has gotten better. From my stand point, he needed to concentrate more on school. He will be back out. If he practices well, we’ll see what happens from there.”
On comparing Vanderbilt’s and Florida’s style of play …
“There is nobody in our league like Vanderbilt to me. Florida is based off of the perimeter play. I love teams like Vanderbilt because they have a prototype three and Taylor. No question about it. They got a big guy in the middle (Festus Ezeli) who likes playing the middle who defends, rebounds and is strong. They got a point guard (Brad Tinsley) who understands that he is as quick as anyone in our conference. I think he is very underrated. He shoots it and manages that team. They’ve got (John) Jenkins who is a big time shooter and scorer. They’ve got kids like (Lance) Goulbourne who is another kid we were recruited when I was at Stanford. He’s strong, a senior that plays the four who rebounds it. They have depth. This is a very balanced basketball team. Again so there is a reason why going into the year, there’s a reason why during the course of the year, some of the people they have played, some of the people they have beaten. You look at their schedule, take a look at it Xavier, Middle Tennessee, Cleveland State, Louisville, you can go right down the line. It is another league game. Like I said, it could not have come at a better time.”
On Anthony Hickey…
“He is something else. His speed and quickness, at times, gives him advantages. I can’t compliment him enough on his courage and not being afraid to make plays. Probably the biggest compliment is his playing through maturity in practice and in games because when you say has he grown up, there are sometimes during the course of practice that he will pout just because he can’t wear a certain shoe. What is more important, that shoe or listening to me? We’re being very candid here because this is part of the process. Just like he comes in here and he jokes about the old coach coming into the locker room wearing shoe size 19. That is the kind of relationship I like. Make no mistake about it. That is what makes him good because he is not afraid to challenge people. He is not afraid to challenge authority. It is my responsibility to make sure that he understands the confines of that. How does that translate to the basketball floor? Well, you get more freedom to go one on two at times, to go by guys and break a play. He has done that. The percentages in terms of how he takes care of the ball, how he shoots the ball, he has done a really good job. There have been a lot of other guys in that locker room that had that freedom as freshmen and their percentages of making winning plays; they haven’t been able to do it. He is growing up. This will be different. This game will be different for him because the last two times that he has went against strength and length, he has struggled in terms of trying to get where he needed to. This will be in a hostile environment where there will be a lot of strength, a lot of length. There will be some strength out front, some strength on the back line. If he is able to get by a guy and get into the lane, there is going to be some physicality. Second time on the road it will be like that, thought Alabama was like that. Other guys on this team need to start making plays and help it out. From the stand point, I’m not singling any one guy out. Quick frankly since we’ve hit league play, the percentages don’t lie. Justin (Hamilton) and Anthony have consistently been pretty good. “
On Ralston Turner…
“It was one game. Some things went down for him early. You can go back and you can over analyze this. I tend not to; I worry about his approach to practice. His approach to practice during all this time has been the same … The bottom line is right now that he came off of a game where he was aggressive and got some easy looks. He attacked the rim and things happened for him. Let’s move forward, but let’s not back away from your approach to practice, your approach to what is going on. He hasn’t done that … He has continued to work and he understands that it is painful for him. It is as painful for him as it has been anybody that I have been around. It is painful because when it means something to you and you know if you are doing you’re part, because he puts pressure on himself more than any one else, that things would be different in the win-loss column, so where do you go to? All you have is your teammates and all you have is your coaches. It is a lonely spot when you care. A lot of guys who are selfish don’t care. It is a lonely spot for him. Like I said, we’re here and I’m here, you just have to keep fighting. That is all you can do.”
On Andre Stringer…
“Again, no different than Ralston (Turner). I worry about his approach, his approach has been good. The one time I brought him off the bench it was just simple fact to loosen him up. Andre is Andre … My approach is the same. If it’s a bad shot, which I’ll let him or Ralston take bad shots at times, because their shooters. I don’t worry about it that much. He has taken a lot of good shots; the ball hasn’t gone down for him. Andre is different in the sense that, he’s 5-9. Length bothers him. What he has done a good job of is now he is getting in the lane and making better decisions. He got in the lane, drew and kicked to Ralston twice over in the corner at crucial times when he had a shot. For me and I’ve always been like this, you can get caught up in the percentages. You can get caught up in all that nonsense, that’s what I call it. It’s more about the individual and how confident he is. Does he care and is his approach to practice the same? If Andre was selfish and didn’t care, he would be walking out that gym like no big deal. But it’s killing him, he just need to be reinforced. His teammates do a good job of it; my coaches do a good job of it. I’m going to continue to try and do a better job of getting him the same kind of shots and maybe some easier shots.