BATON ROUGE – Kids and Tiger fans throughout the Baton Rouge community got a chance to meet, greet and even shootaround with their favorite LSU men’s and women’s basketball stars at the Mall of Louisiana on Saturday as part of the LSU Marketing and Promotions’ department’s “Mall Ball.”
For two hours, the teams and head coaches Nikki Caldwell and Johnny Jones signed autographs, visited with children and gave them tips on how to improve their game while introducing both teams to the crowd.
“We are excited to be here and we have a great opportunity this year,” Jones told the crowd. “I ask you not to wait until conference play; we need your help starting Nov. 9 when the regular season starts. We look forward to having you in the PMAC this coming year.”
“It’s great to have both teams here and Coach Johnny Jones as well,” said Caldwell. “It’s always important to get some one-on-one face time with our fans. Meeting young people and signing autographs is something our teams always enjoy. We want to make sure we do everything on our part to represent LSU in a first-class way.”
Season ticket renewals and deposits for the 2012-13 LSU men’s and women’s basketball seasons are now available at ww.LSUtix.net. Both teams began the fall semester earlier this week and were able to see some familiar faces on Saturday.
“We got a chance to see our fans and we love the support,” said junior guard Andre Stringer. “We are always there for our community. We had a lot of fun today. We stress to all kids that everything is doable. Growing up as a kid, everyone has big dreams and you can fulfill those dreams.”
Senior Lady Tiger guard Adrienne Webb said the support at “Mall Ball” even further motivates the Lady Tigers for the coming season, which kicks off on Nov. 11 against Wichita State in the Maravich Center.
“We had a great turnout today and it always is when we have a chance to interact with our fans,” said Adrienne Webb. “It’s a great way to kickoff the year and gets us pumped even more for the basketball season. You are going to see a motivated team this year, all with one goal in mind.”
Jones, who enters his first season as head coach of the Tigers, has seen first-hand what it takes to build a program and reach out to the fans as a member of the 1981 Final Four team and a longtime assistant to coach Dale Brown.
“We want everyone to be on board with us this season,” said Jones. “We will always look forward to shaking hands, signing autographs and taking pictures with our Tiger fans.”
Jones and the Tigers open the season with six consecutive home games beginning against UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Nov. 9.
LSU fans can follow both LSU basketball teams on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUbasketball and www.Facebook.com/LSUwbkb and on Twitter @LSUBasketball and @LSUwbkb.