BATON ROUGE – After a thrilling come-from-behind double overtime victory over Georgia Saturday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, the Tigers returned to practice Monday in preparation for Wednesday’s game with Ole Miss in Oxford.
The Tigers and Rebels will tip just after 6 p.m. Wednesday night at the Tad Smith Coliseum on the SEC Network and the LSU Sports Radio Network.
Coach Johnny Jones of the 12-3 Tigers (1-1 in the SEC) met with the media prior to returning to the practice gym Monday and here are a few of his comments:
HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening Statement …
“After a tough setback at Missouri, I thought our guys had a great bounce back game on Saturday against a very tough Georgia basketball team. We look forward to the same type of challenges this week on the road against a very experienced Ole Miss basketball team. They have a lot of returning players from last year. With the addition of (Stefan) Moody, those guys have done a tremendous job of competing at a certain level during this early part of the season. We know we have our work cut out for us. They certainly present a great challenge for us, and we look forward to that on Wednesday night.”
On Ole Miss…
“I thought the way they play, I have always felt that (Jarvis) Summers was the heartbeat of their team. As solid as he is, is the sense of urgency and toughness that he plays with, even when they had Marshall Henderson on the team. The different look right now is the newcomer (Stefan Moody) that they have that did take a lot of those (Henderson-type) shots and played so well against Kentucky the other night gives them the feel of Henderson. He’s a very capable scorer that can make shots. They have done a great job of continuing to defend and rebound. They are really playing well together.”
On if cutting down turnovers has been a focus in practice…
“We are a fast-break and up-tempo basketball team. We understand because of the chances that we take periodically and the fast way that we play that we are going to have some turnovers. If that number is around 10 or so, I think we are in good shape. Anytime you get in the range of 18 turnovers or something, I think that is a bit much when you give opposing teams the number of opportunities of extra possessions against you. That is something that we certainly have to be able to guard against to be able to beat the caliber teams that we will be playing. ”
On the development of the team’s guard play…
“One, I have to commend our players for how they have adapted with their chemistry and their bonding in playing together and trusting each other and playing off of each other. We certainly have a long way to go, but I am really happy with the guys that we have and how they compete. They pull for each other, and they have made each other better as the year is progressing. I am really happy. Anytime you have that type of turnover and have the new faces that we have come in, for those guys to be able to play together the way they have and to feed off of each other the way that they have, it says a lot about them.”
On Jalyn Patterson‘s growth progress throughout the season …
“He’s continued to grow and get better. We have always been excited about Jalyn. Jalyn has been a good player for us. Now, I’m not sure if you are familiar, but Jalyn has been banged up. Even when he first got here, he couldn’t do some things because of some of the injuries he had … After starting (to practice), he was banged up again. That has limited a lot of his time out there on the floor. It hadn’t been anything because of his lack of talent or us not believing or trusting or having the confidence in him. We know what he is capable of bringing to the team. His health has gotten better and his time on the floor has grown. Because of that, his conditioning and being out there—you see Jalyn on one end of the floor. You think he would get caught up in his shooting, but you really need to see him and watch him on the defensive end. He’s an excellent defender. I thought the other night you saw him try to get the five second count. It didn’t happen. He stayed after the guy and really came up with the big steal for us there in the first half. He’s a competitor. He’s similar to Tim (Quarterman) in those areas in what he is able to provide for us defensively.”
On the importance of closing out the Georgia game …
“That’s a big springboard for us. Not only closing the game out, we put ourselves in position there in regulation with a lead. Unfortunately, we gave up an offensive rebound there at the end. That’s a great teaching point. The other, we were down by eight with a 1:40 or so left on the clock, guys don’t give up and keep playing to get the game into the second overtime. To be able to finish and to make plays with guys who may have not executed at the free throw line in regulation, to come back and put themselves in position to make free throws in the second overtime. To make plays and for us to get out of there with a victory against an experienced team like Georgia – a team that won 20-plus games last year and should have possibly been in the NCAA tournament. With the number of players they have back from that team, the quality players that were named to the preseason all-conference team. For us to be able to be engaged like that against those guys and be able to win at the end, especially with the inexperienced team that we have, putting out there less the starters from last year.”
On keeping the energy going into Wednesday’s game at Ole Miss …
“We have to be smart. We were able to take off (Sunday). We have to be cognizant of that and make sure that our practices are scaled or that we are going the pace that we need to but in a timely fashion and practicing at a certain pace. We understand that we have a quick turnaround again playing on Wednesday. Generally, we don’t talk about that much because we feel like we are a very good and very conditioned basketball team. The other night we played in a double overtime game, and I am hopeful that you were able to see that our guys were playing at a certain pace that they needed to throughout that game. Conditioning has been good for them. That’s not something we overly concern ourselves with.”
On Tim Quarterman‘s offensive improvement from last season to this season…
“We knew from watching Tim in high school and being his size and playing the point (guard position) and how productive he was there that coming in here, there was going to be a transition for him. Strength was going to play a major factor for him. He’s gotten bigger and stronger. Although he is still wiry, he is much stronger than he was a year ago. He is able to handle some of pressure put on him from an opponent defensively and trying to engage with him and able to make plays. He’s done a better job of that. I think his time on the floor has allowed him to be more of a confident basketball player. Although, I thought he played some good minutes for us last year and had some good signs. We really focus mostly on him on the defensive end, and what he gave us offensively was a huge bonus to us. He wasn’t as confident as he is now. That year really helped him into his transition, and that’s been good for us. Tim can do a lot of things. He is very capable. It’s hard to find someone of his size playing the one, two and the three (positions) and maximizing what we get out of him defensively. Then, being able to give us what he does offensively as well because we really count more on his defense than anything else.”
On Jarell Martin playing around the opposing team defense…
“I think you can look at Jarell’s numbers and how effective he’s been for us. If an opposing team hadn’t switched or changed up how they were trying to defend him in trying to take him and Jordan Mickey away from us, I’m sure they would be questioned a little bit. Jarell has done an excellent job for us. He has a great field goal percentage, and he’s continued to improve from the three (point line). The thing that I admire about him is that he doesn’t get caught up in how other people are defending him. What his is trying to do is make sure that he makes the right plays. That may be him having to make a pass that leads to a basket or a pass that leads to another pass that leads to a basket. We’re putting him in a position where they have to stretch the defense because they respect his ability. The other night we were able to stretch the floor because we put him on the perimeter and had some driving lanes because of it. There will be nights when people are about to drive, and we can get the ball back to him which we were able to do late in the game the other night when he wound up knocking down a huge three for us. He’s been able to run the floor and been able to rebound. We think he is going really well, and we think he is doing an excellent job. I don’t ever get caught up in nights now. The only thing that’s different for him is that he needs to be able to get to the free throw line. He’s been averaging about seven free throws a game, and that is an area that we have to make sure that he is always the aggressor when he get to the rim. They were a big and strong team the other night. With the way they played in the paint area, we probably didn’t have enough opportunities at the basket like he normally gets or didn’t get a few of the calls. He’s generally is at the free throw line and spends a lot of time there.”
On Tim Quarterman‘s leadership…
“Tim has been that, regardless of the position he’s played, not so much because of his ability to score or anything now. He has been a little bit of the vocal leader for our guys from the beginning of the season. It’s been good for us because we don’t have a lot of veterans on this team. We have two sophomore leaders in Jarell (Martin) and Jordan (Mickey) in terms of being able to play. Tim because he was here a year ago understands it. He’s been good in that aspect.”