GAINESVILLE, Florida – The LSU men’s basketball team hopes to take some its road experiences with them here when they face the University of Florida at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center as part of ESPN’s Super Tuesday Southeastern Conference games.
Brad Nessler, Sean Farnham and Shannon Spake will have the ESPN call while Jim Hawthorne and Ricky Blanton with host Kevin Ford will call the game on the LSU Sports Radio Network affiliates and in the Geaux Zone at LSUsports.net.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. CT.
The game will be on these stations in the following areas: 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 AM); Natchitoches (KWLV 1907.1 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).
The Tigers will play two games on the road this week—Tuesday at Florida and Saturday at Vanderbilt. LSU is 13-4 and 2-2 in the league after a heartbreaking 67-64 loss to Texas A&M Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Florida, losers at Georgia on Saturday, is 10-7 and 3-1 in the league.
However, LSU has posted three league wins in the league this season with wins at ranked West Virginia, UAB and last Wednesday at Ole Miss. The Tigers are hopeful those positive road experience will help LSU as it plays three of its next four on the road.
LSU lost at Florida last year in the only meeting of the teams and the Gators have won the last six meetings overall.
LSU is expected to go with Jordan Mickey (15.6 ppg, 10.4 rpg) and Jarell Martin (16.6 ppg, 8.9 rpg) at forwards with Darcy Malone (1.2 ppg, 1.1 rpg) who has started the last two games at center. Josh Gray (9.9 ppg, 5.2 apg) and Keith Hornsby (12.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg) are the guards.
Follow LSU Basketball and updates on the game at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and on Twitter @LSUBasketball. LSU basketball can also be followed on Instagram @LSUBasketball and on the LSU Basketball IPad App.
Coach Johnny Jones met with the media on Monday before the Tigers left for Gainesville and here are some of his comments.
LSU Men’s Basketball Media Session
January 19, 2015
HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening Statement …
“It was a tough setback on Saturday, missing some great opportunities. We are looking forward to two big challenges on the road this week certainly starting with a very talented Florida team that has played a real difficult and tough schedule. Even in their losses, their games have been extremely close. They sit at 3-1 in the league. With the play of Finney-Smith, Frazier, Horford, Murphy—the guys that they have on their team—along with Hill, they’ve done a tremendous job of playing without the experience that they had from last year. With the experience that they have with guys returning and the new guys they have implemented on this team, Billy Donovan has done a tremendous job with them.”
On the team facing road challenges…
“I think it has been good for us, the caliber of schedule that we played. Playing at West Virginia and the atmosphere that we were able to play in there and at Ole Miss the other night, Ole Miss played extremely well. In the environment that we were able to play in, I thought our guys were able to lock in and play in between the lines and did an excellent job in those two venues. It is going to take that type of effort, concentration and focus to have success and be able to compete at a certain level this week.”
On team building chemistry on the road…
“At this part of the year, we are in conference play right now. We are hopeful that with each game we can continue to progress and get better, regardless of setbacks or wins. That’s important. This is another opportunity for us to go and play a very tough basketball team with great tradition—an experienced basketball team. We are going to be tested in a certain manner. We look forward to that challenge.”
On Florida…
“They are 3-1 in our league. The only setback that they have is against a very good Georgia basketball team, who is very talented. You look at their other losses that they have in the preseason against the caliber of competition that they played, you can see the discrepancy in terms of the score and how close it was. They are different. They did lose some of their key components from last year. When you look at their ability to score, how they space the floor and how they defend, they are a very talented team and will be tough to deal with.”
On the inconsistent moments during games…
“We have gotten better. The thing for us is we get excited that we have the ability to get up, in terms of the score, and compete at a certain level. To get up 12, 13, 14 points, it says something now. It is the matter of being able to manage it when you get to that point. You understand it is a game of runs. Unfortunately, you have to go through some growing pains to allow that to happen. We’ve had our share of it. We’ve passed a test in some. Unfortunately, we came up short in others. When you talk about the league that we are in and as talented as these people are, you have to certainly credit some of the teams with the way they have played down the stretch. The shots they’ve made and the things they’ve done to overcome the deficit, we have to get better at making sure we grind these things out at the end like we have before and be more consistent in doing that.”
On teaching the team how to play with the lead…
“The greatest teacher is being in it, playing. Experience is the best thing for you and being a part of it. That’s the great thing from being inexperienced to being an experienced team. Our veteran guys who have maximized minutes are sophomores. Other guys are certainly new to the team. At the same time, they’ve stepped up and accepted a lot of challenges that we have been faced with. In a difficult conference with the experience and the talent in this league we are in, it’s going to be a battle every night. We have to continue to grow at a certain pace to make sure that we can beat these challenges.”
On growth of team from road games…
“Those are some positive steps for us. It’s something that we can look back and celebrate. They are something we should be able to pull strength from because those are prime examples of what we are capable of doing night in and night out. We have to make sure we are able to perform at a certain level in this tough conference. Every night that you lace them up and get ready to play, the competition is going to be stiff. You can look around and see how close the scores are in all of the conference games pretty much regardless of who is playing. We are going to be right in the middle of that. We understand that we have been able to have some success. We understand what has caused some of the setbacks. We have to make sure we learn from that and make sure that it hopefully doesn’t repeat itself.”
On Darcy Malone in the lineup…
“With Darcy (Malone) in the lineup, and if we have Jordan Mickey in as well, that is the way that we start. We always keep Jarell (Martin) primarily on the perimeter. It gives us great length and size when we are able to do that. It helps our rotation just like it did when we had John Odo starting for us. We are hopeful that John Odo or one of the other post guys can continue to improve. If we happen to take Darcy out, we can put John Odo in and build that rotation, so we can hopefully lessen the minutes that these other guys are having to play in games. If we were a rested team, late in the games, that is going to be able to help us down the stretch. We are playing a lot of minutes, and guys are asked to do a lot. When we have quick turnarounds in games like that be it Saturday-Tuesday games or a Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday schedule coming up, we have to be conscious of the minutes these guys are playing. I thought Darcy did a good job the other night. Defensively, he rotated where he needed to be and wound up getting three rebounds early on in the first half, maybe the eight minutes he played at the time. Offensively, I thought he allowed our offense to flow. He was able to make a play at the basket, and he gave us some positive minutes. We need more of the same from him moving forward.”
On Sunday’s practice…
“You have to really bounce back. We talked about, and we realize what has transpired in the past. We have to break that rearview mirror quickly and start looking ahead, looking forward. That’s the most important thing for us. Knowing In sports, you are going to have some setbacks. It is how you deal with those setbacks will determine the caliber team that we will have and give us an indication of the type of players we have in this program. These guys have done a pretty good job dealing with the few setbacks we’ve had this year.”
On expectations and what he sees on film about Florida…
“I expect them to space the floor really well. They are going to move the ball precisely. On the defensive end, they are going to do an excellent job of having you scouted and making sure they try to force you to play to your weakness instead of your strengths. If you have a good scoring post, they are going to double down on your post guys. If you have shooters, they are going to shade them and try to take them away from you. They’ve done a tremendous job with the spacing on the floor. They’ve always had shooters. I think that is consistent with the type of team they have this year.”