NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The LSU men’s basketball team begins the 18-game Southeastern Conference portion of the season on Saturday night at venerable Memorial Gymnasium when the Tigers travel here to face the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The game is the final one of the opening night of league play starting at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2 with Mark Jones and Kara Lawson on the call. Jim Hawthorne, Ricky Blanton and studio host Kevin Ford will have the broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge).
Ten of the league’s 14 team will open play throughout the day on Saturday, excluding the four teams (Mississippi State, Alabama, Missouri and South Carolina) which are not scheduled for this year’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 30. Those teams will begin play this coming Tuesday through Thursday and those four teams will play conference games on Jan. 30 to even up the scheduling for the rest of the season.
LSU is 7-5 coming into its third conference road opening game in the last four years. The Tigers, coming off a 77-71 loss to Wake Forest in Baton Rouge on Tuesday night, is 44-37 in league openers and looking for its first opening night SEC victory since 2012.
Vanderbilt is 8-4 under Kevin Stallings in his 17th years as head coach at Vanderbilt and enters off a strong second half performance that got the Commodores an 86-61 win over Western Michigan on Wednesday night. Vandy started the season 5-0 advancing to the finals of the Maui Invitational before falling to Kansas in the championship game.
The Tigers open a difficult three-game stretch with two road games to begin 2016 with the Tigers at Vandy Saturday, then hosting Kentucky on Tuesday before traveling to Gainesville next Saturday to face Florida.
The Tigers are expected to use their same lineup of Tim Quarterman, Antonio Blakeney and Keith Hornsby at guards, with Ben Simmons at point forward and Craig Victor II at forward. Simmons leads the Tigers averaging 19.3 points per game, 13.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game. Hornsby is averaging 16.4 points per game, Victor 14.0 ppg, Quarterman 11.9 points and 3.5 assists, and, Blakeney 10.1 points per game.
Vanderbilt features center Damian Jones, the 7-footer from Baton Rouge. He is averaging 12.6 points per game and 6.4 rebounds for the Commodores. He became the 44th player in Vanderbilt history to surpass 1,000 career points in the Wednesday game versus Western Michigan.
Like Simmons, Jones is one of the seven SEC players who is on the Wooden Award watch list.
Wade Baldwin IV is the team’s leading scorer at 14.7 points per game and 3.9 assists per game.
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Coach Jones met with the media on Thursday and here are some of the comments from that session:
Opening Statement…
“We are looking forward to getting started with conference play right out of the gate at one of the top-two predicted teams in our league, Vanderbilt, who has gotten off to a great start this season. It’s always a very challenging place to play in their arena, but we look forward to it, starting off a new year. I think it will be great for us. With 18 conference games on slate with one non-conference game against Oklahoma, a top-five team in the country right now, we know we have a great challenge in front of us. We are hopeful that what our non-conference schedule has been able to do is prepare us for this time. We know it will be a different level of play, but a lot of things we put out in front of us and our goals are still very attainable. We look forward to starting and trying to pursue that Saturday evening at Vanderbilt.”
On a team meeting Wednesday with Coach Jones …
“It’s good. Again, we have a young team, and we have to make sure that we continue to explore and make sure that they understand it’s a process, it’s a journey and it’s a long one for us. We have to understand and enjoy the process as we go through it. That was one of the things we talked about mostly yesterday, addressing offensively and defensively how some of the games have played out for us, making sure that everyone was on the same page and understanding their own roles and that we all are aiming for the same goals. We were able to air those things out. Putting things in front of them, the attainable goals that are out there, they understand them … ”
On if the loss against Wake Forest or the 7-5 record led to the meeting…
“I think both and (also) prior to conference season starting. One of the big things is that we really want to protect our home floor and had an opportunity to do that against a very good team the other night. We failed to do that. With that type of setback, it didn’t sit well with us, and we wanted to make sure that we addressed it. That’s not something that generally needs to happen to us, regardless of how young our team is. We should have good enough talent to be able to finish those types of games.”
On adjustments the team needs to make with the additions of Keith Hornsby and Craig Victor II …
“Like all players, we all have to continue to improve and continue to grow, make sure we are making positive strides. Tim (Quarterman) is generally our quarterback on our team and making sure that we are running our offense on one end of the floor and making sure that we get the ball to the right places on the defensive end of the floor. It really starts with him. He’s generally our lockdown defender, and it starts with him. We want to make sure that none of that has changed. We just have to make sure that we continue to put our focus and mindset on the right things.”
On Jalyn Patterson‘s help to the team after returning from injury…
“Jalyn’s been really sound for us in a lot of games, especially at the end of last year. On the defensive end as well, Patterson has been really good for us. We missed him with our team because he has been an additional guy that we can put out there and can count on. We never have any issues when he’s in the game on either end of the floor, offensively or defensively, when he’s in the game for us. We can count on him.”
On Ben Simmons being so versatile and how it affects others…
“That goes along with your point guards who generally are getting the ball on an outlet, taking off and getting up the floor. Ben gets it, and he pushes it, a lot of opportunities open up. He has a lot of assists. At the same time, we have to continue to have the same flow. It’s a little different for some of the guys because only one person is generally the point.”
On the offensive style…
“We have a lot of plays in. The thing is you can watch a lot of basketball. We like to keep the floor spaced. We have really good ball handlers. What we want to do is get in the gaps and get to the rim. A lot of teams that you watch who are ranked really high in the country right now, that’s how they play. I guess whether you win a game or lose a game dictates how it looks or if you are executing at a high level. We have a lot of things in. Whether Ben (Simmons) is bringing it or Tim (Quarterman) is bringing it we get into the flow of it. It’s just a matter of executing on the backside of it and trusting each other. That’s the biggest thing. That’s one of the things our team has as we continue to grow is that trust factor of getting the ball from one side of the floor to the other and being comfortable with doing that. We have a lot of guys who can make plays, but they have to be able to trust in their teammates, as well. We will get better at that. We had the same thing last year for a while when we had to move Jarell Martin from the post guy to having him play on the perimeter at the three with our offense. As the season progressed, we got progressively better.”
On having a young team going into SEC play…
“From what we did preseason, it goes to a whole other level of play in conference because each game has its own weight and how important they are. Each team will play to that. Veteran teams generally have a really good understanding of it. As freshmen, these guys have to understand right off the bat the intensity level that these games will be played with in conference play.”
On starting against a tough road team in Vanderbilt…
“That’s one of the things playing a good game like we played the other night against a proven team like Wake Forest. It helps us because we were challenged in that game going in. Obviously, playing on the road at a place that’s been notoriously tough to play and is a great venue there, we are excited about having to open there, and it will tell us a lot about our team. Coming home against the team that was picked to win the conference in Kentucky and going to Florida, we start off with a great and challenging schedule. We have to really get out of the gate on a positive note.”
On Vanderbilt…
“The big thing is we try to make sure that on this journey it’s important to take it one game at a time. That has to be our main focus. Vanderbilt is really good in its own right. They have a team that last year finished extremely strong in the league. The number of games they won on the backside, I forget how many it exactly was, six-out-of-seven or whatever it was, down the stretch was a nice number to get into the NIT Tournament. Starting this year and getting off to a great start, they are a very tough team and have an All-American candidate on their team and guys who are projected to be first round draft picks. They are a very formidable team that we are going to have to match up with on Saturday. Regardless of who it is, we have to be able to take one game at a time. That has to be our approach.”
“They are tremendous shooters, and they have Damian Jones inside who is from right here in Baton Rouge. He’s developed into a very special post player. With their ability to shoot on the perimeter around him and how (Wade) Baldwin has continued to mature as a guard and the way he is playing right now, some of the NBA scouts would like to say that he reminds them of (Russell) Westbrook with Oklahoma (City) because of his length and his ability to score with how he plays and how aggressive he is. They have a good team, nothing surprising, with how they’ve continued to develop.”