BATON ROUGE – LSU men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones met with the media on Wednesday as the No. 19/21 LSU Tigers play its lone exhibition game on Friday night at 7 p.m. against Southwest Baptist University.
The game is set for the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and admission for the game is free of charge. The first 5,000 fans will receive a Geaux 25-7 poster with Ben Simmons and Leonard Fournette.
The game will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) with Kevin Ford sitting in for Jim Hawthorne and analyst Ricky Blanton, while Lyn Rollins and Jordy Hultberg will have the call on the streaming broadcast of the game on SECN+ and the WatchESPN app and WatchESPN.com.
Season tickets for the 2015-16 18-game home schedule remain on sale starting for as little as $100 and Coach Jones talked about the ticket effort during his media session.
“The excitement is brewing prior to the season. We know the opener is coming,” said Coach Jones. “Marketing and those folks have done a tremendous job as well. Season tickets have gone really well … We are so excited about the excitement around the program and that people are investing in season tickets because they don’t want to miss and want to have an opportunity to be a part of this. I think we have to certainly credit the three teams prior to this one and the jobs they have done to create and build an interest in the program and culminating as well with the recruiting and the returning guys from last year’s team, as well.”
Jones also talked about the clearance of Antonio Blakeney and more on the surgery for Keith Hornsby and setback that Brandon Sampson had last week. It is expected that only Hornsby will miss the exhibition game at this point.
The Tigers open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. against McNeese State. Tickets for that game, season tickets, mini-plans and group sales as well as other non-conference games are available at LSUtix.net. Follow updates on the team at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and @LSUBasketball on Twitter.
Here are some of Coach Jones’ comments;
HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening Statement…
“We have good news this week, finding out that Antonio Blakeney has been cleared to have an opportunity to start playing … There were several players throughout the country that eligibility was somewhat delayed (by the NCAA), and they’ve had some opportunity being able to look at it, be it some videos, summer workouts, some workout coaches or whatever. We are very fortunate that we have been able to get that behind us. That was something that allowed Antonio the freedom to feel comfortable in our scrimmage over the weekend, and I thought he played exceptionally well.
Keith Hornsby, unfortunately, went through a procedure (Tuesday). We know that he will be down at the beginning of the season and will miss several games for us. We have been assured that after recovery we should hopefully have him back prior to conference play. We are looking forward to him coming back even bigger, better and stronger.
Brandon Sampson, who has been out, did not take the trip with us over the weekend to a scrimmage. He has been cleared, and he should be able to be back in competition with us this weekend on Friday. We are excited about that.
We had a scrimmage against other competition Saturday. I though our guys did a good job of playing and competing, defending both ends of the floor, scoring. I thought we’ve continued to grow as a team. This exhibition Friday will serve a good purpose for us as we continue to strive and get ready for our season opener next Friday (Nov. 13) against McNeese. The exhibition game (Friday) will be a little different. We will have a lot of different looks at other guys and giving guys the opportunity to play. I know Ben (Simmons) has to be excited not so much in terms of competition because he doesn’t know who we are playing, but his brother, Liam, happens to be an assistant coach with Southwest Baptist basketball team as well. We are looking forward to that. The excitement is brewing prior to the season. We know the opener is coming. Marketing and those folks have done a tremendous job as well. Season tickets have gone really well. The bottom and middle areas have been completely sold out. There are only tickets, hopefully, left up in the 300-area. I think that’s a big plus for us and a big push. We are so excited about the excitement around the program that people are investing in season tickets because they don’t want to miss and want to have an opportunity to be a part of this. I think we have to certainly credit the three teams prior to this one and the jobs they have done to create and build an interest in the program and culminating as well with the recruiting and the returning guys from last year’s team, as well. We are excited about that.”
On a different look once Keith Hornsby and Craig Victor II are able to compete…
“We certainly don’t like being dealt this hand because the leadership and the toughness. We are starting the season without our top three scorers from last year—Jarell (Martin), Jordan (Mickey) and now Keith (Hornsby). It makes it a little bit tougher for us. As you stated, I think when the semester is over with, when those guys do come back, we have two new guys that you can add into that lineup that should make us a better team at that time. Again, there is still chemistry and bonding and all of those things as well.”
On the scoring and the defensive help…
“I think we can get some scoring. I think we will get some defense, but I think it’s that leadership that you have out there on the floor in those guys that are able to set examples day-in and day-out in practice is what we are going to lose. Those guys are very capable scorers, but to play with intensity level that Keith (Hornsby) played with day-in and day-out—we are going to miss that. We are hopeful that somebody will step up.”
On Brandon Sampson‘s injury…
“Brandon took a nice lick, and he’s been down for a several days since last week. I think he was cleared (Monday) to go five on other stuff with us with his non-contact. He should be able to go on a little more contact activity (Thursday) and be able to play on Friday. He will be available for us Friday, but for precautionary reasons we will not put him in contact drills until Thursday.”
On concerns about the freshmen (Blakeney, Sampson) having to step up…
“Just being freshman. For us, you talk about the difference in a freshman and a fifth-year senior in what Keith (Hornsby) was able to provide for us. I think it’s a lot of phases of the game — offensively, defensively, pace of play and all of the things which you are hopeful that they would gradually have an opportunity to get into. One of those guys was going to have a chance to start anyway that we are going to lean on. Without that leadership and that spot and the experience, it makes it a little bit different. Neither is going to have that. They are going to have to play their way into it. You don’t have that go-to guy in case something is not going right.”
On Jalyn Patterson‘s experience and versatility…
“Jalyn is so versatile. He can play the one or the two. I thought he was good in the scrimmage for us Saturday, as well. He has experience underneath his belt. He’s only a sophomore for us. It will be transitioning for him as well, but he is someone we can lean on.
On the depth at guard…
“I think if you are just talking about talent alone, we have the depth there. It’s a little bit bigger for us at the end of the day because when you lose, you have a turnover each year, it’s something you have to address and look at. When you have the ability to bring a fifth-year senior back, someone who has been in your program at least three years and understands and knows and has been through the wars and battles of this league and the NCAA tournament, it means something. That’s something we are really embracing for our team this year—having a guy like Keith (Hornsby) that brought that to us. We have depth but some of the other things you look forward to that really matter. It’s not about how high you can jump or how fast you can run, but there are some other things that he is able to integrate to our team that matters.”
On the post guys Saturday…
“Very good. I thought we made some strides. One of the reasons we play the exhibition game and wanted to play a scrimmage against a like opponent is because of the size, strength and quickness of people. That has been able to be good for us. That’s what I think we were able to address on Saturday. Our post guys had an opportunity to play against some other traditional post guys, and I thought they did a pretty good job.”