BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team has little time to worry about Thursday’s Southeastern Conference opening loss at Missouri (74-67 in overtime) because the team has to be ready to play again Saturday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center against the University of Georgia.
The game is set to tip just after 8 p.m. on ESPNU with Mike Morgan and Cory Alexander on the call. The radio broadcast will be available in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net and on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and host Kevin Ford.
The game will be carried by these affiliates: Baton Rouge, WDGL (98.1 FM); Alexandria, KSYL (970 AM); Bogalusa, WBOX (92.9 FM); Ferriday, KFNV (107.1 FM); Houma, KJIN (1490 AM); Jena, KJNA (102.7 FM); Lafayette/Opelousas, KLWB (103.7 FM); Lake Charles, KXZZ (1580 AM); Leesville, KJAE (93.5 FM); Monroe, KMLB (540 AM); Morgan City, KFRA (1390 MA); Natchitoches, KWLV (107.1 FM); New Orleans, WWL (870 AM, 105.3 FM); Ruston, KRUS (1490 AM); Shreveport, KWKH (1130 AM); Tallulah, KTJZ (97.5
FM); Tylertown, Mississippi, WFCG (107.3 FM); Ville Platte, KVPI (1050 AM).
Tickets for the game are available online at LSUtix.net and beginning at the upper concourse ticket windows beginning at 6:30 p.m. There will be 4,000 Maui Jim Sunglass Cases given away to fans.
LSU is 11-3 and 0-1 in the league, while Georgia is 9-4 and 0-1 after a 79-75 loss in Athens to No. 23 Arkansas.
LSU had leads in both halves of Thursday’s game with Mizzou but was unable to close the deal and had to rally from four down in the final two minutes to get the game to overtime on a three-pointer by Keith Hornsby with 10 seconds to play.
But in the overtime, LSU was 0-for-8 from the field and continuing the trend from regulation, made just 2-of-5 free throws. For the game, LSU, a team well over 70 percent from the line team all year, made just 13-of-23 on the night. Tim Quarterman led LSU with 19 points, while Hornsby had 17 points and Jalyn Patterson had his third double figure in the last five games with 11.
Coach Mark Fox’s Bulldogs led for over 31 minutes against Arkansas and had five players in double figures in the Arkansas game. The Bulldogs won both meetings with LSU last season.
Coach Johnny Jones met with the media on Friday after returning from the Mizzou trip to look back and ahead at the Georgia game. Here are some of his comments:
Opening Statement …
“It’s a quick turnaround for us after the game at Missouri last night. It was a challenging game. Offensively, we certainly didn’t have the flow or execute at the level that we needed to. Even at the free throw line as consistent as we have been being in the top three in (the SEC) in free throw shooting. Going 13-of-23 from the line last night, it was not characteristic of the team. Then, on the defensive end, we weren’t as good as what we needed to be, especially trying to cover the three-point line. Going into the game, we were familiar with the danger there from the scouting report and did not do a great job after getting a lead against them there in the first half, as well in the second half. We have a quick turnaround against a very tough and talented Georgia team who has a lot of starters back from last year. They are probably one of the most physical teams in our conference and will certainly present a great challenge for us (Saturday). We certainly need to be ready to be at our best and play much better than we performed last night.”
On shooters keeping their confidence after the Missouri loss…
“Good shooters are able to bounce back. It’s repetition in working and practicing. If you play enough games, you know you are going to have some of those nights. You have to remain positive and understand that if you are taking good shots with your feet set and are getting good looks at the basket, that you are confident. If it were rushed shots or shots that you don’t normally take, then you just want to make sure you remove those. You can certainly get back to shooting the higher percentage shots that you shoot. As long as we are shooting high percentage shots and getting good looks at the basket, I think we will be fine. At the free throw line, I think it balanced itself out. Unfortunately, last night, we had some of our better free throw shooters at the line and shots didn’t go down for us, which would have made a big difference in that game.”
On players staying aggressive in the post…
“Some fouls you are just going to get, especially defending in the post where there is a grind. It’s tough in there. You just want to try and stay away from the other fouls where they are in the backcourt or charging fouls. Those are the ones that somewhat add up and can catch up with you throughout the course of the game because of the nature of it. You are going to pick them up. You have to make sure you play through them. But if you get a foul in the backcourt or a charging foul when you possibly should be making another play, that’s when we have to be smart and make good solid decisions.”
On staying out of foul trouble…
“I thought Johnny (O’Bryant III) had more problems last year because of the battle and grind he would have inside, offensively and defensively. I think both of these guys (Jarell Marin and Jordan Mickey) are very capable of staying out of foul trouble. Jarell is going to be the aggressor, and he’s going to make sure that he can defend. He works diligently in trying to stay away from fouls because he always puts himself in the best position. If the refs just happen to call a foul, it’s unfortunate. He’s sitting there continuing to battle because of Jordan’s shot blocking ability. I think Jordan’s a little careful at times on how he will approach or attack the offensive players to get his block to stay out of foul trouble. If you do your work early and properly and put yourself in the right position, sometimes we may not be able to get blocked shots, but we will rotate. We will put ourselves in a better spot and force our opponents out of good offensive possessions.”
On the team’s depth off the bench …
“We know that we have a long way to go. We like the progress that our team has made. We like the direction we are going. Unfortunately, the depth on our team will still be in question because of the youthfulness of the team that we have. We are young. Most of the guys coming off of the bench are freshmen. They are new to what we are doing outside of Tim Quarterman, and Tim is only a sophomore. Jalyn Patterson came in last night and gave us some positive minutes. I think he scored nine of our first 20 points last night. It’s certainly a bright spot there, but we have to continue to search and find and make sure the guys over there can give us some productive minutes.”
On Missouri’s three-point shooting during last night’s game …
“They hit some huge shots and some timely ones last night. In the first half, one of the guys came in and had two big three’s when we had a nice lead. Then, late in the second half, they had a couple of guys that came down and hit a couple of big threes that really helped them in terms of getting the balance of the game. They are capable shooters. We have to make sure we are there on the catch. Defensively, that is one of the things we feel good about because we have the length to do that, but we have to make sure that we are defending that three-point line better.”
On the recruiting process …
“We are excited. I think a lot of kids are excited about the way that we play – the time and the energy that we like to put into them. The success that we’ve had not only on the recruiting trail but even on the floor, we’ve had two really productive seasons. They see the other kids and the talent around the country buying in and wanting to be a part of what we are doing. It’s great. It’s been good for us, and we are excited about it.”
On what Craig Victor brings to the program …
“From watching Craig Victor in high school, he has been an excellent power forward and did a great job in the paint. I thought he would have been the top player in the state last year had he stayed and not gone on to Findlay Prep in Las Vegas. He’s a guy that we certainly need. I think it would be very difficult to go out and find a high school player that could play the post position and be as productive as he could possibly be for us in a year. He’s a guy with some NCAA experience under his belt already.”
On the quick turnaround for the Georgia game…
“When you talk about prep for last night’s game and getting back late and then today. We are playing a team that has been off since playing Arkansas a few days ago. It’s a good turnaround, but that’s the schedule we are dealt with. We look forward to meeting that challenge and playing it.”
On what makes Georgia difficult to defend…
“Their size and their strength. They have a lot of veterans on their team. They are a team that won 20-plus games last year and probably should have been in the NCAA Tournament. When you talk about (Kenny) Gaines and (Charles) Mann and their post guys, they are solid and are very physical. They are a good, defensive basketball team. They are methodical in terms of executing offensively. They are going to take their shots. They’ll get into the shot clock if need be. Their guards are 6’4”-6’5”. They are big on the perimeter as well.”