BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team (22-10, 11-7 SEC) will make its 21st appearance in program history in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, as it was chosen into the field of 68 as announced Sunday on CBS Sports.
The No. 9-seeded Tigers learned Sunday they will face No. 8-seeded NC State (20-13, 10-8 ACC) in the tournament’s second round on at approximately 8:20 p.m. CT on Thursday, March 19, in Pittsburgh, Pa.
The winner of this second-round game will face the winner of top-seeded Villanova and No. 16 seed Lafayette on Saturday at a time to be determined.
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Ticket Information for LSU Fans
Ticket requests are currently being accepted from fulltime LSU students, LSU season ticket holders, and Tiger Athletic Foundation members. Ticket requests will be accepted until 5 pm on Monday, March 16. Tickets may be requested online at www.LSUtix.net over the telephone by calling (225) 578-2184 or (800) 960-8587, or in person by visiting the LSU Ticket Office on the first floor of the LSU Athletic Administration Building. Fans placing their requests online should be sure to log in to their season ticket account to insure they receive proper consideration.
Requests from men’s basketball season ticket holders and LSU students will be given first priority, with other requests being sorted by LSU Priority Point rankings. Ticket limitations may be implemented if demand exceeds supply. Not every request is guaranteed to be filled.
Tickets are either or $100 or $76 per session plus a $5 order charge, and are available only for the session(s) in which LSU plays. If LSU advances to the third round on Saturday, all ticket holders from Thursday’s game will automatically be charged and receive tickets to the third round game. All tickets must be picked up by the ticket holder of record in Pittsburgh. No name changes or transfers will be accepted.
Fans placing requests will be notified of the status of their request via email by Tuesday, March 17.
Quotes from LSU’s Watch Party
LSU HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening Statement …
“Needless to say, the team and everyone involved with the program are really excited about the news that came this afternoon about being selected in the field of 68 and being a part of March Madness. Our guys are extremely excited and look forward to the challenges that we have in front of us. I am elated that these young men’s hard work from the beginning of the season through strength and conditioning and the time and energy they’ve put in during the grueling season. To be able to at the end to have our fan base excited along with us to have an opportunity to cheer us on and have a special interest in this year’s tournament gives us great pleasure.”
On what the team did to warrant a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament…
“I think we’ve been an exciting team to watch all year long because of our numbers in terms of points per game, the way that we play with the up tempo style offense. We are one of the nation’s leaders defensively as well in a lot of categories. When you look across the board at what we’ve been able to do on the road, 6-3 in the league and 8-5 overall with the challenges we’ve presented to some of the top-20 teams in the country on the road at West Virginia and at Arkansas. We are still the only team in the country that has played Kentucky to a two-point basketball game. For whatever that it is worth, I think people know the challenges and how tough that we’ve been, although we’ve had some setbacks. I think those were because of the inexperience of our team. Night-in and night-out, I think our guys have done a tremendous job of bouncing back and getting ready for their next outing. I was hopeful that the committee took a lot of things into consideration.”
On if there were any anxious moments between Friday’s loss and Sunday’s NCAA announcement…
“I’m not sure. In terms of anxiousness, I’ve always tried to remain positive. I think with our body of work, how hard our guys played being in one of the toughest conferences in the country and finishing in the top three in the league, I think that warrants for a lot of consideration. With that, I was hopeful that Sunday at 5 p.m. that something good would happen and we would hear our name called. We were very fortunate and blessed that it was.”
On playing North Carolina State and facing Mark Gottfried…
“As soon as I saw it, I’m sitting there, and we (Mark Gottfried and I) actually talked this morning on my way to church. We were on the phone together, and I was congratulating him because I saw that they were solidly in. He texted me last night, (he was) hopeful. He said, ‘I’m hoping things work out and you guys get in.’ We spoke today and had chance to visit a little bit. When I saw their name come up, I was excited for him and where they were. Then, our name popped up underneath. It was kind of ironic. Right away, I knew that was a guy I formerly worked for and served as an assistant coach (at Alabama). We’ve been friends for a long, long time in the profession. It certainly will be an interesting game for the both of us.”
On what he learned from coaching with Mark Gottfried for a year…
“I think Mark doesn’t get enough credit. He’s a basketball junkie. He’s a guy that eats, sleeps and breathes it day and night. Be it whatever his team is doing offensively or defensively or the recruiting aspect of it, that’s what he’s about. When I was around him, he does a lot of UCLA offensively with what he runs. He has a lot of schemes off of it as well. He’s one of the hardest working guys out there in the business, and he’s done a tremendous job.”
On the swing of emotions from Friday to today…
“We talked to the guys prior to Selection Sunday. We actually met as a team. The reason being because when I was actually at Alabama with Mark Gottfried, we had our team meeting. We won over 20-plus games. Unfortunately, as a team and a staff, our name wasn’t called. I know the emotion that went in that room and how disappointed those young men were. That was a message that I actually relayed to our team prior to (the selection show). With how hard they’ve worked and all the things we’ve done together, I didn’t want them being in an apartment or in their dorms or somewhere and get this news alone. We’ve been fighting all of this time together. We were either going to be disappointed together, or we were going to celebrate together. Fortunately, we were able to be here together and were able to celebrate when it came over the TV. The excitement was certainly there. As low as we were on Friday, you can multiply that by 15 where we were when our name came up today.”
On being a team that met the eye test of the NCAA Tournament selection committee …
“Our approach has been my first year here with the guys that we had, we battled and wound up going 9-9 in the league. We won 19 games overall, and I thought we were hopefully on the edge. I don’t think that we were, and I don’t think we possibly came up on the board. I thought year two, Johnny O’Bryant III comes back. We put ourselves in position. We won 20 games and won nine games again in the league. We won a game in the SEC Tournament. I thought maybe that there was a chance for us, and we wound up in the NIT. This year, we were feeling a little different. We won 20-plus games, and the body of work that we were able to do on the road against some tough opponents in our league that was in the top 5 in the country (SEC rank in the RPI). I thought that spoke volumes, and we had a much better chance by the mere fact that all of those positive things were going for our league and our team at the same time.”
On the different feelings going to the NCAA Tournament as a player and as a coach …
“As a player, I was certainly excited. The guys that were around me were experienced. They were seniors, and they had gone to the Elite Eight and the Sweet 16. They had been there and done that. Being a freshman and going to the NCAA Tournament, I was glad that those guys were used to it. That was the year that we went all the way to the Final Four. That’s when the excitement came for them in the Superdome when we made plays and the clock ran down. That was a chance to get excited. For me as a coach, I think one of the most proudest moments was when I was at North Texas and had a chance to win the conference championship and take that team to the NCAA Tournament. They hadn’t been there since the early 1980s. It was about the kids. The same thing applies here. To be able to help put them in a situation where they can live out their dreams … To have a chance to play on that stage and to be a part of that and see how excited they are, I have to say its equal or better to see the joy in someone else.”
On if it’s hard to coach against friends…
“It’s really difficult anytime you have a relationship with someone. I don’t like even scheduling guys that I have that type of relationship with. Dave Simmons, it’s tough for me when we play McNeese, we were high school teammates. That’s always tough. Tic Price, he’s at Lamar, we just never played when I was at North Texas and he was at McNeese. We would just never schedule each other. Mark (Gottfried) and I have never even talked about or even thought about scheduling to play against each other. It’s happening. It’s there. I can assure you that we have a great deal of admiration and care about each other a great deal. At the end of the day when we throw it up on Thursday, I think both of us will be locked in on what’s happening on that 94-by-50 instead of a relationship.”
On making 9 straight NCAA Tournaments as an assistant coach at LSU (first year of LSU’s 10-year streak was Jones’ senior season) and what making the NCAA Tournament means to him now as the head coach…
“I didn’t know what it was like to be without. I just thought that’s how it was supposed to be because of the fact that I had played and the success we had going to the Final Four in ’81 and again as an assistant in ’86. You just thought that was a part of it. Being in a league of this magnitude at a school like LSU, you just thought that was where you were supposed to be. Getting to the point to where I am now and how things have changed from where the league was over the past two or three years, things were different. You certainly learn to have an appreciation for the body of work that Coach Brown was able to do and where the league was during that time.”
Facts about LSU’s NCAA Tournament History:
- The Tigers are back in the NCAA Tournament after a five year absence … LSU last appeared in the NCAA field in 2009, defeating 9-seed Butler and then advancing to the second round before losing to top seed and eventual national champion North Carolina.
- LSU is 24-23 in its 20 NCAA Tournament appearances … In this century LSU has appeared in the tournament in 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2009 … LSU advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2000 and the NCAA Final Four in 2006 … The Tigers appeared in what was then a Southeastern Conference record 10 straight NCAA Tournaments in the year from 1984-1993 … LSU has won its first game in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the second round 11 of previous 20 appearances.
- LSU’s first appearance in the tournament was in 1953 when the Tigers advanced to the NCAA Final Four … That team under Harry Rabenhorst and led by Basketball Hall of Fame and NBA legend Bob Pettit, defeated Lebanon Valley and Holy Cross en route to what wasn’t known then as the Final Four where the Tigers lost to Indiana, the top seed, in the national semifinals.
- LSU ranks fourth in the SEC in NCAA Tournament appearances with 21, behind only 54 for Kentucky, 30 for Arkansas and 26 for Missouri … LSU went to the NCAA Final Four in 1986 as an 11 seed, the lowest at that time to ever advance to an NCAA Final Four.
- Johnny Jones becomes the fifth LSU coach to take a team to the NCAA Tournament joining Harry Rabenhorst (2 – 1953, ’54); Dale Brown (13 – 1979, ’80, ’81, ’84, ’85, ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, ’90, ’91, ’92, ’93), John Brady (4 – 2000, ’03, ’05, ’06) and Trent Johnson (1 – 2009).
- Jones is taking his second team to the NCAA Tournament, having taken North Texas to the NCAA Tournament in 2007 (No. 2 Memphis 73, No. 15 North Texas 58 in New Orleans) and 2010 (No. 2 Kansas State 82, No. 15 North Texas 62 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) … He will be the first LSU coach to take a team to any post-season play in two of their first three years as the head coach of the Tigers.
- LSU has reached 4 Final Fours, 6 regional finals and 9 Sweet 16s.
Past NCAA Seedings – Since 1979
1979 – 3rd seed, Mideast; 1980 – 1 seed, Midwest; 1981 – 1 seed, Midwest; 1984 – 7 seed, West; 1985 – 4 seed, Southeast; 1986 – 11 seed, Southeast; 1987 – 10 seed, Midwest; 1988 – 9 seed, East; 1989 – 10 seed, West; 1990 – 5 seed, East; 1991 – 6 seed, Midwest; 1992 – 7 seed, West; 1993 – 11 seed, Midwest; 2000 – 4 seed, West; 2003 – 9 seed, South; 2005 – 6 seed, Chicago Regional; 2006 – 4 seed, Atlanta Regional; 2009 – 8 seed, South.
LSU Radio Analyst One of Eight To Have Played On Four NCAA Tourney Teams
LSU Sports Radio Network analyst Ricky Blanton is one of just eight Tigers to have played on four NCAA Tournament Teams in their LSU careers:
Ricky Blanton – 1985-86-88-89
Oliver Brown – 1984-85-86-87
Neboisha Bukumirovich – 1985-86-87-88
Geert Hammink – 1989-91-92-93
Vernel Singleton – 1989-90-91-92
Jose Vargas – 1985-86-87-88
Anthony Wilson – 1984-85-86-87
Bernard Woodside – 1985-86-87-88
Johnny Jones Fifth To Lead A Louisiana Alma Mater To NCAA
Coach Johnny Jones with this NCAA appearance will become the fifth coach of a Louisiana school to lead their alma mater to the NCAA Tournament:
Jim McCafferty – Loyola (1954, 1957)
Mike Vining – ULM (7 NCAA appearances)
Tommy Joe Eagles – Louisiana Tech (1987, 1989)
Billy Kennedy – Southeastern Louisiana (2005)
Johnny Jones – LSU (2015)
Jones also add to his resume’ as the first person at LSU to play in an NCAA Final Four, serve as an assistant coach in the NCAA Final Four and then take his alma mater to the NCAA Tournament.
NCAA Tournament First/Second Round Matchups, Game Times (CT), TV Networks
All times Central and subject to change.
NCAA First Four
March 17-18, 2015
Tuesday, March 17 at Dayton, Ohio
16. Hampton vs. 16. Manahttan, 5:40 p.m. CT (truTV)
11. BYU vs. 11. Ole Miss, 8:10 p.m. (truTV)
Wednesday, March 18, at Dayton, Ohio
16. North Florida vs. 16. Robert Morris, 5:40 p.m. CT (truTV)
11. Boise St. vs. 11. Dayton, 8:10 p.m. (truTV)
NCAA Second Round
Midwest Region
Thursday, March 19 at Louisville, Ky.
8. Cincinnati vs. 9. Purdue, 6:10 p.m. (CBS)
1. Kentucky vs. 16. Hampton/16 Manhattan, 8:40 p.m. (CBS)
Friday, March 20 at Columbus, Ohio
5. West Viriginia vs. 12. Buffalo, 1:10 p.m. (TNT)
4. Maryland vs. 13. Valparaiso, 3:40 p.m. (TNT)
Thursday, March 19, Pittsburgh, Pa.
3. Notre Dame vs. 14. Northeastern, 11:15 a.m. (CBS)
6. Butler vs. 11. Texas, 1:45 p.m. (CBS)
Friday, March 20 at Omaha, Neb.
2. Kansas vs. 15. New Mexico State, 11:15 a.m. (CBS)
7. Wichita State vs. 10. Indiana, 1:45 p.m. (CBS)
East Region
Thursday, March 19 at Pittsburgh, Pa.
1. Villanova vs. 16. Lafayette, 5:50 p.m. (TBS)
8. NC State vs. 9. LSU, 8:20 p.m. (TBS)
Friday, March 20 at Seattle, Wash.
5. Northern Iowa vs. 12. Wyoming, 12:40 p.m. (TBS)
4 Louisville vs. 13. UC Irvine, 3:10 p.m. (TBS)
Friday, March 20 at Columbus, Ohio
3. Oklahoma vs. 14. Albany, 6:27 p.m. (truTV)
6. Providence vs. 11. Boise St./11. Dayton, 8:57 p.m. (truTV)
Friday, March 20, at Charlotte, N.C.
7. Michigan St. vs. 10. Georgia, 11:40 a.m. (truTV)
2. Virginia vs. 15. Belmont, 2:10 p.m. (truTV)
South Region
Friday, March 20, at Charlotte, N.C.
1. Duke vs. 16. North Florida/16. Robert Morris, 6:10 p.m. (CBS)
8. San Diego St. vs. 9. St. John’s, 8:40 p.m. (CBS)
Thursday, March 19 at Portland, Ore.
5. Utah vs. 12. Stephen F. Austin, 6:27 p.m. (truTV)
4. Georgetown vs. 13. Eastern Washington, 8:57 p.m. (truTV)
Thursday, March 19, at Louisville, Ky.
3. Iowa St. vs. 14 UAB, 11:40 a.m. (truTV)
6. SMU vs. 11. UCLA, 2:10 p.m. (truTV)
Friday, March 20, at Seattle, Wash.
7. Iowa vs. 10. Davidson, 6:20 p.m. (TNT)
2. Gonzaga vs. 15. North Dakota St., 8:50 p.m. (TNT)
West Region
Friday, March 20, at Omaha, Neb.
8. Oregon vs. 9 Oklahoma St., 5:50 p.m. (TBS)
1. Wisconsin vs. 16. Coastal Carolina, 8:20 p.m. (TBS)
Thursday, March 19 at Jacksonville, Fla.
4. North Carolina vs. 13. Harvard, 6:20 p.m. (TNT)
5. Arkansas vs. 12. Wofford, 8:50 p.m. (TNT)
Thursday, March 19, at Jacksonville, Fla.
3. Baylor vs. 14. Georgia St., 12:40 p.m. (TBS)
6. Xavier vs. 11. BYU/11. Ole Miss, 3:10 p.m. (TBS)
Thursday, March 19, at Portland, Ore.
2. Arizona vs. 15. Texas Southern, 1:10 p.m. (TNT)
7. VCU vs. 10. Ohio St., 3:40 p.m. (TNT)