MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, Australia – The LSU men’s basketball Tour Down Under has reached its final stop Wednesday afternoon local time, arriving in downtown Melbourne in preparation for the last two games in this country with the Melbourne United team of the National Basketball League.
LSU’s games with one of the main franchises in the history of the NBL (8 Grand Final appearances with four championships) comes at a time when new ownership has taken over the league and the league has tried to brand itself to what it says is “a refreshed vision of what the sport of basketball can become in Australia.” It is also the second year that the long-time named Tigers of Melbourne has held the “United” nickname
The main focus of this homecoming for LSU’s Ben Simmons and the city and franchise where his dad Dave made his main mark on the Australian game is Saturday’s game at the 10,500-seat Hisense Arena (known primarily in America as one of the show courts with a retractable roof for the Australian Open Tennis Championships). A group of sponsors, including the Victorian government, is handling all the expenses for the game and tickets were available by lottery free of charge.
Reports are some 20,000 tickets were requested by fans wanting to see the game.
Of course, included in the homecoming is LSU Assistant Head Coach David Patrick who played with Dave Simmons in Melbourne and is Ben Simmons‘ godfather. Patrick grew up in Melbourne after his family moved there following his birth in Bermuda. Plus there is improving junior center Darcy Malone, who has started all three games of the tour from the ACT Academy of Sports in Canberra.
Lost in all this is Thursday’s first meeting with United in Dandenong, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Melbourne. The game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night (4:30 a.m. Baton Rouge time on Thursday) at the Dandenong Basketball Stadium. The 2,400-seat venue is practically sold out and only standing room tickets available.
Of the trip and games so far, LSU Head Coach Johnny Jones told local media here Wednesday, “It’s been good. We certainly have a ways to go and a lot of things we have to iron out. Some of the players not being on the court will make our team a little bit different (when we get home), but I think we have done a tremendous job of competing and playing extremely hard. There are a lot of bright spots and that gives us a lot of reason to be excited.”
LSU is 2-1 on the tour, coming off Tuesday night’s 91-88 win over the Queensland All-Stars at the Auchenflower/NAB Basketball Stadium in Brisbane. In that game, Simmons made a tip-in of an Antonio Blakeney miss to break an 88-88 tie in the final 40 seconds. LSU added a free throw after a QAS turnover and then held off a three-point attempt from a player who had been 4-of-4 for the game at the buzzer.
Speaking of Blakeney, he came off the bench Tuesday as Coach Johnny Jones shuffled the starting lineup to look at Brandon Sampson in one of the guard spots, but Blakeney had a strong night, hitting 8-of-16 shots, including 3-of-LSU’s 5 treys to finish with a game-high 22 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
Blakeney, the Mr. Basketball highly-recruited freshman out of Florida, is averaging 16.7 points a game (third on the team) and 6.3 rebounds (third on team) in the first three games of the tour.
Simmons is averaging 22 points and 9 rebounds, with 17 total assists, 7 blocks and 12 steals. Simmons is shooting 50 percent from the field (23-of-46), but is getting fouled often in the three games (receiving 28 fouls so far). From the line he is 18-of-29 in the three games (62.1 percent).
Tim Quarterman is averaging 19 points a game with Keith Hornsby 11.3 and Sampson, from Madison Prep in Baton Rouge, 10.3 points per game.
While it is not known if all the players will play major roles in Thursday game for Melbourne United, the team has made some good additions to its roster for 2015-16. Highlighting that is big man Ekene Ibekwe and guard Stephen Holt.
Ibekwe hit the title-winning shot in last season’s grand final for the New Zealand Breakers. He is a graduate of Maryland and has an extensive pro career playing in Israel, France, Turkey, Puerto Rico, Iran, Germany and Spain, as well as the NBL. He also appeared in the London Olympics for Nigeria.
Holt played four years at St. Mary’s and comes to Melbourne with the ability to play both guard spots. He spent the NBA Summer League with the Hawks after a season in the NBDL with the Cavaliers’ affiliate in Canton. He averaged 15.2 points as a senior at Saint Mary’s and was an All-West Coast Conference selection.
The team has recently signed Igor Hadziomerovic, a Melbourne native, who played four years at Boise State.
One thing LSU will have to guard against is the outside shot as veteran David Barlow, who has played pro ball over a decade, led the NBL last year with 55 made three-pointers. Daniel Kickert, who also played at St. Mary’s, led the NBL in three-point FG percentage last year at 51.0%. The QAS Tuesday night made 13-of-31 attempts (42 percent) in the loss to LSU.
Kickert and Holt would have played college ball at the time that LSU’s Patrick was on the staff at St. Mary’s, adding another level to the two games here in Melbourne.
Updates during the game Thursday will be available on both Twitter @LSUBasketball and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball.