BATON ROUGE – LSU has a “Brunch” date with the Texas A&M Aggies Saturday as Southeastern Conference basketball gets an early Saturday start at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers and Aggies will tip at just after 11 a.m. on ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg, Darrin Horn) and in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net and the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and Kevin Ford.
Affiliates carrying the game include the following: 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 are available at LSUTix.net and beginning at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Center.
LSU is 12-3 and 2-1 in the SEC coming off back-to-back league wins – a double overtime win on Jan 10 (87-84) in the Maravich Center at Georgia and then the Tigers picked up their third win on the road this year when they won at Ole Miss, 75-71. In that game, Keith Hornsby had 23 points and three Tigers – Jarell Martin (18 points, 14 rebounds), Jordan Mickey (11 points, 11 rebounds) and Josh Gray (14 points, 10 assists) – had double doubles for LSU.
The Aggies won their first conference game at home on Tuesday night, downing Mississippi State, 74-70. This past Saturday, the Aggies took Kentucky to double overtime in College Station before falling, 70-64. In its first conference game, A&M lost at Alabama 65-44. They enter the game with a record of 10-5, 1-2 in the league.
If LSU goes with the same lineup that it used at Ole Miss, Gray (9.9 ppg, 5.2 apg) will be joined by Hornsby (12.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg) at guards, with sophomore Darcy Malone at center and Martin (16.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg) and Mickey (15.5 ppg, 10.5 rpg) at forwards.
A&M is expected to go with two double figure scorers in their lineup – guards Danuel House (13.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and Jalen Jones (13.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg) for fourth year head coach Billy Kennedy. Kennedy, a native of Metairie, also had head coaching stints at Centenary and Southeastern Louisiana.
LSU will be putting a nine game home winning streak on the line that dates back to the first of the season and will be trying for a third straight SEC win going into a week on the road at Florida (Tuesday) and at Vanderbilt on Jan. 24.
Follow updates on the game Saturday at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and on Twitter @LSUBasketball. Also keep up with the Tigers @LSUBasketball on Instagram and on the LSU Basketball app for Ipads.
Here are some of the comments earlier Friday from Coach Johnny Jones‘ media session:
LSU Men’s Basketball Media Session
January 16, 2015
HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening Statement …
“After another tough game at Ole Miss the other night, I thought our guys did a tremendous job of finally being able to close the game out on the defensive end. Then, being able to knock down the necessary free throws by (Keith) Hornsby to wind up clinching the game, it was a great night for us. We certainly have another big challenge in front of us: a very talented and experienced Texas A&M team who has played really well. They took Kentucky into a (double) overtime game and played a really good game the other night against Mississippi State. I think the talent and the experience they have and the newcomers that they have that have been able to transfer in and play right away has given them a very tough basketball team. It will certainly be a great challenge for us. We look forward to the game early (Saturday) morning at 11 a.m. It’s another great SEC opportunity for us.”
On the early morning start…
“They (the LSU players) love playing. The 6 p.m. games instead of the 8 p.m. games have been very good for us, in terms of coaches. For all involved, the 11 a.m. game is going to be something new to us, not only to our players but to our fans as well. We have to make sure the word is out, and we get them out and energized for our early morning start at 11 a.m.”
On the team’s perimeter defense…
“I thought all year long, our guys have played with a great deal of energy. The size and the strength we have on the perimeter and the flexibility we have because of our post guys’ athleticism helps us. It allows us to do some things defensively. Going into the Ole Miss game with the exceptional three-point shooters they have and quality guards, I thought our guys did a good job of staying connected and playing with a burst of energy and sense of urgency that you have to in order to challenge someone as good as they are.”
On scouting reports…
“Each one of our coaches have X amount of our scouts on their teams. The good thing is I have been blessed and very fortunate to have a great staff of guys that put a lot of time and energy into their work. They’re not selfish in any manner, or any of our guys trying to be out on an island. They all try to participate and inject together what we feel like is the best vehicle or best way that we need to attack our opponents. I think we have done a great job of doing that.”
On Josh Gray…
“For our whole team, especially the new guys coming in including the new recruits we have along with Hornsby, it’s new to all of those guys being out there on the floor. It’s a different experience for them, and Josh is no different. He’s done a tremendous job in terms of trying to do the things that we’ve asked him to do and trying to put forth a great effort. The other night, he was able to pull a lot of things together like he had in some other games. It was a positive for us. His play with 10 assists the other night was huge. That’s a great number, and it shows the unselfish play that he’s been able to put together and his ability to score.”
On the team’s confidence level after the win at Ole Miss…
“We got up 11 points in the second half, and Ole Miss came storming back and played really well. We had to regroup and get back out and play extremely hard to get the lead back. Down the stretch with the lead, we did a great job of getting some defensive stops, which were important. Then, being able to get to the free throw line and again knock those crucial free throws down. A year ago, we wound up missing a couple of free throws. We put the opposing team in the position to go down and make a basket and get the game in overtime. Unfortunately, we had a setback. That was a little bit different in this game this year on the road.”
On being prepared for close games in the SEC…
“What’s good for us is we played a very challenging schedule leading up to SEC play. When you look at our game West Virginia, we were down 14 points. Those guys continued to fight back. To look back at that game as an example for others we had been in earlier has allowed us to have the success that we have had in those games. Had we not had that type of experience, I’m not sure that we would have the same mindset and mentality right now in those tight battles.”
On Jalyn Patterson‘s early success…
“I think he came here with the right mindset. In high school and at his prep school, he played that way. He was a big-time shooter. He was a very confident player on his prep school team. He didn’t turn the ball over much, was a good defender and an excellent shooter. He liked to take the last second shot. He looks forward to that – people like to say “ice water in their veins,” but that’s how he plays. Sometimes you look at him out there on the floor, and it doesn’t seem as though he is as engaged as he should be. When the ball is in play, he is actually into it. He’s a lot like Tim (Quarterman) last year. Defensively, he brings the same type of energy and mentality. What is different is his ability to shoot the ball like he has as a freshman is really big for us.”
On the expected game pace Saturday against Texas A&M…
“We need to make sure and are hopeful that we can control the tempo during the game. They are going to be very methodical in terms of their play. They are going to hold the ball offensively and certainly try to get into the shot clock and get the necessary shots that they want. We would certainly like to make sure that it becomes a high possession game for us because of how we play.”
On Darcy Malone‘s play as of late…
“I thought Darcy Malone gave us some quality minutes. He ended up playing seven or eight minutes in that game and wound up getting three rebounds. That’s a good night and a big plus for us. Some of the things that don’t show up in the stats, being in the right place and guys rotating and making sure he was in the proper space and held position. It didn’t allow easy scores for us the other night (at Ole Miss). I thought it was a positive for us, and he gave us some good minutes.”
On allowing the players to have freedom to play on the court…
“As a coach and being a former player, I know how important it is to understand how to play instead of just running plays. A lot of people can draw plays, but as the season progresses and opponents have you scouted, they’re going to do a great job of taking away what you like to do offensively. If they take you out of those things, what’s your next move? What do you do next? If your kids understand how to play meaning that the spacing is well on the floor and if someone should come to help, where are you supposed to rotate to? That’s teaching them how to play. When you have a 35-second clock, you don’t have long. If you are running your play and they’ve done a great job of scouting and taking you out of it, you better have something else in your bag. Our guys have the ability to create, so we do give them the freedom to be able to create inside of the game. We don’t want to be too strict and too strenuous on them, which allows them the freedom to do some of the things they need to do.”