BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team began practicing for Wednesday’s final home game against Tennessee on Monday and Coach Johnny Jones met with the media to review Saturday’s win over Ole Miss and look ahead to the final week of the regular season.
LSU is 21-8 overall and 10-6 in the Southeastern Conference. LSU is in a three-way tie for fourth place with Georgia and Ole Miss at 10-6 but LSU has the tiebreakers because of their win over Georgia and two wins over Ole Miss. The top four teams get a double bye in the Southeastern Conference tournament which will be held in Nashville. LSU can finish no worse than sixth in the league in the present standings.
LSU and Tennessee will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in a game televised by the SEC Center and broadcast by the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network. Tickets are available at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and online at LSUtix.net.
Here are some of Coach Jones’ comments to the media on Monday:
Opening Statement…
“We are looking forward to a very challenging week starting off here at home Wednesday against Tennessee, a team we played earlier in the year. At the same time, we know they played a very close game. They’ve had some difficult games as of late. They played Ole Miss to a two-point game and had a chance to win it at the end. We know that they will come in here and give us a great challenge here at home on Wednesday. We certainly have to be ready to play against a tough, defensive basketball team. They give you different looks in terms of their matchup zone. Offensively, we know (Josh) Richardson is very capable. We have to make sure we do a great job on him and several of their players that are pretentious scorers for them. We definitely can’t look at their record and feel like it is a game we can just have to show up for. We’ve been through those this year, and we know the outcome of how things have happened. We certainly have to be good on Wednesday.”
On the team learning to have the right mindset to be ready for games…
“It’s attention to detail, but a lot of times kids can get caught up in records and teams. They’ve watched them play. You know what Ole Miss was bringing the other night—a team that had a nice winning streak going prior to it being broken—and they knew how tough our game was at Ole Miss. We shot the ball extremely well at Tennessee and had a pretty good cushion there for most of the game. Knowing that going back the second time around, it is going to be tough. We just have to be mindful of the type of start we have to get off to against a team of that caliber. You have to be playing well because anytime someone gets confidence whether they are at home or on the road, it is difficult to play against them and try to take that confidence away.”
On the team playing with more confidence in this last stretch of the season…
“The last five or six games, even in the Kentucky game, I thought we played well. I thought even in the Texas A&M game, although we had some really tough moments, we had some really bright spots in there even with the guys in foul trouble and being on the road to a team that has been playing really well. Throughout that stretch, I think our team has continued to grow up. Even the other night in the first half, we missed some easy opportunities to score and bobbled a couple of balls on the break when we possibly could have had some easy scoring opportunities that didn’t happen. Our guys never seemed as though they were fazed by it. They just came back out in the second half and were able to execute those same types of plays. I think that’s a sign of some growth because at times, guys will get rattled. They start settling, and they start pressing. That wasn’t the case Saturday.”
On Tim Quarterman‘s progression from his freshman year…
“Tim was playing last year in more of a backup role. He even started the first four or five games at the point guard position. As the year progressed, his minutes declined. I thought he played more hesitantly because of the lack of minutes that he was getting to play. He wasn’t at the strength he needed to be at. There’s a lot of things in Division I basketball that he certainly had to grow and get better at. I thought that he might have thought it was going to come a lot easier to him in college, and it didn’t. This year, thinking he would possibly be able to play more and (knowing) more would be required and expected of him, he was going to have to really start in the weight room. His off-season was going to have to be really good. I think he did a good job of having a good offseason. He worked hard in the weight room, and he understood what was going to be needed of him. I think he got off to a really good start this year and hasn’t looked back”
On the team’s position and program’s growth during his first three seasons…
“From day one, coming in and not knowing exactly where we would be from the first year and the gradual improvement I think that we have been continued to make is exciting, especially with the kids that are in the program. When you talk about guys buying in and taking ownership in terms of players and being excited about it, you talk about being able to fulfill that dream. To see them have a chance to be that close, it means a great deal when you take a group of young men like that, especially with as inexperienced and as young as we are. It’s exciting to be that close to possibly fulfilling a dream—one, getting to the NCAA tournament and then having a chance to succeed and be successful there. It means a lot.”
On coaching at his alma mater and what it means to him…
“The reason I came back, and the reason I’m excited about being here is because you are at a place where you have an opportunity to set your sights and your goals high because of the facilities and resources along with everything that LSU offers. When you are in a conference like the SEC, you are presented with a lot of challenges. Being here and having a chance to compete for championships and compete at the highest-level means a great deal. To be able to try and recruit some of the better players in the country here to give us that chance means a lot. It certainly means a great deal to be able to coach at the school I had an opportunity to play for and be an assistant coach for a long time and to be a part of that experience as well. I remember from my freshman year, going to the Final Four and everything that went into it from the seniors that we had on that team to the coaches. The feeling that you had, I want to make sure that these guys get that feeling. I’m just as excited on this side of it (as a coach) as I was when I was a player.”
On how Tim Quarterman‘s light-hearted personality translates on the court…
“Tim gives us a lot of energy out there on the floor. He is really enthusiastic. When he is at his best, he really creates a good environment for his teammates. They certainly feed off a lot of the things that Tim does out there whether it’s in practice or in games. A lot of times, it’s initiated with him being the point guard be it defensively or offensive. His personality certainly rubs off on the team.”
On Keith Hornsby‘s success this season….
“Keith has been really good for us. Everyone has talked about the M&M boys (Jarell Martin and Jordan Mickey) or what Tim Quarterman has done or the arrival of Jalyn Patterson, but I think Keith is that guy who has been steady all year. You can go back and look at his numbers and how many times he’s averaged double figures and his field goal percentage. He probably doesn’t get enough credit for what he’s done defensively. Not that he’s been able to shut everyone down, but the passion that he plays with and how hard he plays night in and night out. You are going to get everything from him. He is not one of those guys that you look to rest because he never seems tired out there on the floor. He doesn’t get a lot of credit, but we know that he is a huge difference maker for our team. We look forward to him being out there. I can tell you if it wasn’t for Keith, we wouldn’t have the success that we are having right now.”
On talking to the team about NCAA Tournament projections…
“My biggest example to them is to bring up some of the setbacks that we have had. You can’t take anything for granted and how teams are capable of playing. You put yourself in certain positions. You can go around the country and teams can unfortunately come up short because they weren’t in tune with where they needed to be. I think it’s just making a conscious effort that you relay those messages to them because if it’s after the fact then it’s too late. I try to make sure and let them know on the front end so it doesn’t end up being an ‘I told you so’ type of deal. It’s just a matter of fact that these things happen.”