BATON ROUGE – LSU men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones updated the media late Monday afternoon as the team prepared to conclude practice sessions prior to the team’s departure from the LSU campus Tuesday afternoon for the 12-day, 5-game exhibition tour of Australia.
There was some news that Coach Jones briefly discussed with the media as senior point guard Josh Gray will not make the trip to Australia due to a compliance issue regarding his participation in a non-sanctioned basketball game.
The Tigers after a lengthy flight to Sydney will play in five games starting on Saturday with a second game on Sunday. Sunday’s second game will be radio cast online at LSUsports.net beginning at 4 a.m. CT. During all other games of the tour which runs through Aug. 23, updates will be available on Twitter @LSUBasketball and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball.
Here are some of Coach Jones’ comments from this afternoon:
Opening Statement…
“Over the last 48 hours, I guess we’ve had a little bit of a setback with Josh Gray. He played in some type of game that was not sanctioned prior to checking with our compliance people, and he will not be on our trip to Australia. Until we get further information from compliance, we’ll have no further comment … but we look forward to going to Australia. We’ve moved Jalyn Patterson over to the point guard spot. He’s done a great job of picking up things quickly and had a couple of really good days of practice. We look forward to the challenges we will be faced with over there. Our guys have done a tremendous job of preparing and practicing. We are looking forward to playing games. It’s come quick, and we are excited about the opportunity we’ve had to get started so early. We can’t wait until we tip it off against some different competition in the next few days.”
On the competition in Australia…
“The good thing is it will be against some really stiff, good competition—former Division I college guys, some guys are NBA players. (We) will certainly be challenged, and that’s something we need. That’s one of the reasons we are going. We are looking forward to those types of challenges for the guys returning, and also, our freshmen will have the opportunity to see the level and the pace of play. Those things will really help them prior to getting into our regular season.”
On the use of Ben Simmons during the Australia exhibition games…
“I think if teams would try to pressure us, we would certainly put the ball in his hand. He has great skillset in terms of his ball handling, passing skills. At 6-foot-10, it’s easy for him to see over the top of the defense. He’s excellent at advancing the ball up the floor. I think it would be good for us if people chose to press us because I think he’s such a great decision maker when he has the ball. He can certainly handle the pressure and help us get it up against pressure.”
On the offensive strategy…
“I think one, pace of play, the 24-second clock, that’s something. We’ve always played fast, but the 24-second clock and 14 resets on offensive rebounds are things you have to be conscious of. Spacing is going to be vitally important to us. We have got to do a tremendous job of sharing the ball, good hard cuts, playing strong with the basketball. We have to be a little more physical and play a little more physical because the rules allow that. We have to really be prepared for that as well on the offensive end of the floor.”
On the purpose and preparation for the trip to Australia…
“I think everything we are doing right now is building for the long haul. Our practices have certainly been fast paced. They had to learn quick because you are talking about 10 days of practice prior to getting into play, but we’ve really been trying to prepare ourselves for the long haul and what we will be doing this coming November instead of just what’s going on in August. We are hopeful through that preparation and getting ready for a grueling season this is going to help us, and it’s going to be beneficial for us—these five games. It’s with our season in mind, not just exhibition games.”
On the benefit of these exhibition games overseas…
“I think anytime you have guys that have an opportunity to go over and experience what our guys are about to embark upon, it’s going to be great for them. It’s going to be a great experience for them, and I think it’s going to be a lesson in terms of how we play and the pace of play. I think this is going to carry us a long way with trying to build this team. Obviously, we are a long way from November, but I think this trip is what we set it up for and to try to set the tone for this upcoming season.”
On Brandon Sampson…
“I think Brandon Sampson has all of the makings of being a really special player. He’s along the lines of all of the other guys we brought in. He and Antonio Blakeney have done a tremendous job of not only competing but excelling and doing a great job. We are really happy with him, and that’s on both ends of the floor. He’s played with a great deal of savvy, tenacity and with an edge. He’s put on about 12 pounds, and he’s excited about that. He’s made some really good strides since he’s been here.”
On the types of combinations in his team…
“I think the good part for us is that we have guys who can really shoot in Brandon (Sampson), (Antonio) Blakeney and (Keith) Hornsby on the wings. Tim (Quarterman) has done a tremendous job of being a distributor and playing the point spot. Jalyn (Patterson) has continued to improve from last year’s team. That’s all a plus for us. Then, you take Ben (Simmons) who is capable of playing out there in the point and has a lot of ball handling opportunities, especially coming up on the break. That’s just another good weapon for us out there. We can put a small team out there and be really quick, but any time you have Ben out there, he’s just actually serves as another guard for us.”
On the potential impact of the exhibitions…
“Just the excitement and having the opportunity to start early and be out there with our guys—it’s been really good for us. Again, it’s just the learning experience for them with the new team, new guys out there. It’s been great to have these 10 days of practice prior to boarding the plane (Tuesday) evening. It’s been exciting. I wish this was something you could do almost each year. It certainly serves a purpose for us. We will know more when we return on how everything has gone and how much we got out of it, but I think we will get a lot out of it. We can’t scout teams. You don’t know who you’re playing against, so It’s going to really be all about your team and what you feel like your guys have had the opportunity to learn and the experience they are going to share going into games without scouting reports of their opponents. It’s going to be all about their habits and things we’ve taught. It’s going to be good for us.”