BATON ROUGE – Coming off two good winning performances last week, the LSU Tigers put a 6-0 record at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on the line Tuesday night against American University in the last game before the team takes a short break for Christmas.
Game time is 7 p.m. and the contest is the third of three to be televised Tuesday on the SEC Network. Ted Emrich and Dino Gaudio will have the call on the broadcast. The game will also be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge, the Guaranty Broadcast flagship) with “Voice of the Tigers” Jim Hawthorne joined by analyst Ricky Blanton and host Kevin Ford.
Tickets are available on line at LSUtix.net, all day at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office and at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Center beginning at 5:30 p.m. on game night. LSU Students get in free with a valid student ID. The first 2,000 fans in attendance receive an LSU holiday ornament.
LSU is 6-4 on the year, having won three of the four December outings, while American is coming in off three straight losses to drop the Eagles to 2-8. Both of AU’s wins, ironically, have come on the road at New Hampshire and Youngstown State.
There were some interesting numbers in the last game for American, a 79-64 loss to Maryland-Eastern Shore. UMES trailed 37-33 at halftime, but outscored American 46-27 in the second half. American shot 59 percent for the game (25-of-42), but had 21 turnovers and was outscored, 39-13, in points off turnovers.
American’s Paris Maragkos led the scoring with 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting, while Marko Vasic was 5-of-5 from the field in getting 12 points.
The Eagles are coached by Mike Brennan in his third year with the program who took the team to the NCAA Tournament in his first season. He served for four years prior to taking his first head coaching assignment as an assistant at Georgetown and for seven years was also an assistant at Princeton.
LSU is coming off a 78-57 win over Gardner-Webb and a 100-77 decision to Oral Roberts University in its last two contests. On Saturday against ORU, the Tigers shot 53 percent for the game, including 65.5 percent in the second half (19-29). Ben Simmons had his second highest scoring game of the season with 24 points with nine boards and seven rebounds, while Craig Victor II in his first start and Keith Hornsby each had 13 and Antonio Blakeney (second straight game with three treys) and Josh Gray each had 12 points.
The Tigers are expected to be without Jalyn Patterson and Brian Bridgewater again on Tuesday and it is hoped that Patterson may be ready to go when the season resumes on Dec. 29 against Wake Forest. Both players have leg injuries.
LSU is expected to start the same lineup for the second straight game (the first time in seven games there will not be a change) with Blakeney, Hornsby and Tim Quarterman at the guards, Victor II at the forward and Simmons at his hybrid point-forward position.
Following this game, LSU will take off for a brief Christmas break before returning to campus on the night of Dec. 26. LSU will then begin the final 20 games of the regular season, including 18 Southeastern Conference games. Play resumes on Dec. 29 against Wake Forest at 6 p.m. (ESPNU, LSU Sports Radio Network) before the Tigers open Southeastern Conference play on Jan. 2 at Vanderbilt.
Coach Johnny Jones met with the media following the practice session on Monday and those comments will be available here this evening.
Parking Alert
Please make note of the following information regarding the temporary closure of a portion of Highland Road, which may affect your commute to and from Tuesday’s home game vs. American.
Due to emergency sewer line repairs, Highland Road – between South Stadium Road and Tower Drive (near Parker Coliseum) – will be closed starting Monday, December 21 and lasting until Wednesday, December 23. Traffic will be diverted around the closure via East Parker Boulevard and South Stadium Road. Fieldhouse Drive southbound will also be closed to through traffic starting at the Cox Roundabout.
Access to the lots along Fieldhouse Drive will still be allowed and parking will remain available along Fieldhouse Drive up to Powerhouse Lane. Pending no inclement weather, this portion of Fieldhouse Drive will reopen by Sunday, Jan. 10.
Northbound Fieldhouse Drive and South Campus Drive between Forestry Lane and Fieldhouse Drive will remain closed through Sunday, Jan. 10. Please take action to avoid these areas when arriving on campus.
LSU Men’s Basketball
December 21, 2015
HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening Statement…
“We had a good finish Saturday. I thought we played one of our more complete games throughout the 40 minutes on both ends of the floor. We were able to take a rare day off during this time, especially two days prior to competition, to try to allow some injuries to heal. We got back at practice (Monday) in preparation for American. It’s a different team that we are playing, unlike any offense that we’ve played this year. The guys run the Princeton-style offense. A lot of things of our teaching with guys will be different in terms of how we will have to defend this type of offense. I like the energy from our guys. Last night after going back and reviewing the film, there were a lot of hustle plays and lots of positive things that happened in that basketball game in areas that as a team we can continue to improve along that process. We look forward to making sure that we continue to improve at a great rate.”
On American running the Princeton offense…
“Not a lot of teams run it. That’s what a lot of the issues are when trying to defend it. I was fortunate enough when I coached at the University of North Texas—Denver was one of the teams that ran it… That was the style that they ran. It was always a little bit different from what we were teaching about over playing and how we would do things defensively. You kind of go against some of your principles in trying to defend it. That was one of the things we have to concentrate and focus on because a lot of things are backdoor cuts. They hold on to the ball a lot throughout the shot clock. We have to make sure that we are defending well to try to get the game at the pace that we need it.”
On the rotation with the addition of Keith Hornsby and Craig Victor…
“It’s helped us having Craig in, who is primarily a good, solid post man on both ends of the floor, defensively and offensively. He certainly presents a great presence for us. Keith (Hornsby), a fifth-year senior, is a guy with the maturity level. Being a fifth-year senior, the experience he’s gained over those years certainly helps us along with the impact he made on the team last year. Both of those guys, I guess they are starting now. Prior to that, we thought they could be projected starters. We knew we were missing a lot from our team in terms of what we would like to get into our rotation and minutes played. However, we are down two other guys right now, and we look forward to getting those guys back.”
On the increase in the energy defensively…
“We’ve got guys who are not used to losing. We’ve played some close games without those guys against some quality competition. It was tough. I just think these guys (Hornsby and Victor), they bring another dimension to our team and something that is much needed. Some of the things they do are play with a sense of urgency, play with a sense of toughness and they have a good awareness about themselves at the rate and pace they play that will help us in competing at a certain level. They’ve shown that in the couple of games they’ve been able to play.”
On Ben Simmons’ first 10 games…
“If you just strictly look at the numbers that he put up, you have to be really impressed with what’s out there. Some things don’t show up on the stat sheet: his presence on the floor, defensively, the pass that leads to a pass in terms of a score or a screen or something that he may set. There are a lot of things that he’s done and continues to do with this team that does not show up on the stat sheet for us. As a coach, I’ve been very impressed by his presence and his production for our team. A lot of people will say ‘As a freshman,’ but I say ‘As a player’ because of the impact that he’s made.”
On Aaron Epps’ progression…
“If you watch him out on the floor, how confident he is … He’s put on some added weight and some strength, which was that transition from his freshman to his sophomore year. Anytime he’s out there on the floor and he gets a look, his teammates think all of his shots are going in. He’s a heck of a lot more confident than he was at this point last year. He’s played a special role. The minutes he played last year, unfortunately then he was hurt, and what he was able to do over the summer and how he’s continued to work on his game, he’s a guy that is part of our regular rotation that we count on both ends of the floor. He’s going to continue to get better.”
On the message to the team before the holidays…
“One of the messages to our team today is that a lot of times before the Christmas break, teams have the tendency of checking out a little early prior to their last game because they are looking forward to having an opportunity to go home and having the time off. Making sure you stay locked in throughout the process. Especially at our level. We have to make sure that we are not one of those statistics.”