BATON ROUGE – The LSU Tigers play their second home game of the week Saturday night at 8 p.m. as the Tigers host Texas A&M in the second meeting of the season between the two teams..
The game in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center will be broadcast on the affiliates of the LSU Sports Radio Network with the “Voice of the Tigers” Chris Blair (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge and live at LSUsports.net) and televised on ESPNU with Matt Stewart and Kyle Macy.
Tickets for the contest are available during the day at LSUsports.net and at the upper concourse ticket windows of the Maravich Center beginning at 6:30 p.m. LSU students are admitted free of charge with a valid student ID.
LSU is 9-12 and 1-8 in the SEC trying to get a home win in the Southeastern Conference, while the Aggies of Texas A&M are 11-10 and 3-6 in the SEC. LSU is coming off a home loss Wednesday against No. 19 South Carolina, 88-63, while A&M fell at home as well, 68-54, to Vanderbilt.
The Aggies list four players as probable starters averaging in double figures this year, including Louisianan Robert Williams, a high school freshman out of Vivian in Northwest Louisiana. He is averaging 10.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and the 6-9 forward averages 2.4 blocks.
Also averaging in double figures among Aggie starters are Admon Gilder at 13.0 points and 4.0 assists; D. J. Hogg at 12.5 points and 3.2 assists and Tyler Davis at a team best 14.2 points and 7.3 rebounds.
Brandon Sampson led LSU with 16 points in the game against South Carolina while Skylar Mays off the bench added 11. Wayde Sims just missed his first college double double with 11 rebounds and eight points. Sampson is averaging 10.5 points per game, while Mays is tied for ninth in the league in assists at 3.8 assists per game.
Antonio Blakeney will be looking to find his flow again on the court of the Maravich Center after being held under double figures in the last two home games (with a 23-point effort in between at Tech Tech). Blakeney is averaging 16 points a game. The Tigers will also be looking for big efforts from Duop Reath (13.3 ppg) and Aaron Epps (6.1 ppg) along with strong court presence from guard Jalyn Patterson, who is averaging 3.7 assists per game.
LSU got strong minutes from former walk-on Brandon Eddlestone who played 11 minutes against South Carolina, scoring six points with four rebounds, earning the praise from Coach Johnny Jones for his effort and willingness to sacrifice his body on the court to keep loose balls alive.
Follow updates on the game at www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and on Twitter @LSUBasketball.
Coach Jones met with the media on Thursday and here are some of his comments heading into the contest:
HEAD COACH JOHNNY JONES
Opening statement…
“After (Wednesday’s) game playing against one of the top teams in the country, you find out more about your level of playing and competing. Last night I thought South Carolina did a tremendous job of competing at a high level for 40 minutes. They contested everything that we did, from offensive sets to our shots. On the offensive end of the floor they penetrated with the basketball and played very aggressive on that end as well. We have to quickly turn our attention to a Texas A&M team that has had a couple of setbacks in close games and will be looking to get back on track as well. They will certainly present a challenge for us on Saturday. Just looking back at our last game against them in conference play, we did not fare well at their place. It’s another opportunity for us to hopefully put ourselves in a position to play at a certain level and get on the streak that we need to here at home.”
On what he learned from the first game with Texas A&M…
“I thought they did a great job. They shot the ball well and we did not. We didn’t get into the flow that we needed to offensively and grind early enough. I thought they got out to a substantial lead and we had to fight an uphill battle throughout the game. I thought prior to the half we cut in to it, but in the second half they just had their way and played well against us. We have to do a much better job of trying to control the tempo of that game.”
On different lineup combinations in practice …
“I think that’s just for jersey purpose at the end of the day for us. Sometimes we have guys mixed up in practice so we can compete at a certain level and in a certain way. It doesn’t have to be the first five guys. Periodically it is the guys who are going to start, but other times we’ll switch those jerseys up so we can have a pretty balanced so that the competition is at a certain level for us … I can tell you this time of the year you don’t want to be on the floor too long because it’s conference play and your games are back to back. You have a pretty quick turnaround. But this year we have found ourselves extending practice a little longer and trying to make sure that different combinations have a chance to work with each other. Unfortunately it’s a little bit different in practice than it is in games because it’s kind of hard to simulate the game. Especially the atmosphere and environment we were in last night with the way that they play. Regardless of whom you have out there on the floor you’re going to have to scramble because they try to push you out of your offense. But we do try to put different combinations together to see how they work or execute.”
On Brandon Eddlestone‘s effort against South Carolina…
“I think last night he was able to get out there and make plays and make hustle plays and that’s what we need and what we’ve been looking for. We’ve got to find some time for him out there on the floor. That’s what we’ve been asking and looking for, and I thought last night he made some plays that he knew that he had no chance of coming up with the ball, but at least he put himself in a position to keep a hand on it and keep it alive so our other guys who are playing live bodies have a chance to maybe get to it. I think that’s a huge plus and I don’t think you can ignore that.”
On if he’s seeing combinations that he hasn’t been able to see in practice…
“Last night we obviously hadn’t been playing (Brian Bridgewater) Bridge and (Brandon) Eddlestone or Wayde (Sims) and Eddlestone a whole lot in games. So last night was definitely a different combination of guys that we had out there on the floor for long periods of time. Generally Duop (Reath) and (Aaron) Epps both those guys are usually in there at the same time with the combination of guys that they play with, but last night we had a different group for longer periods of time. I didn’t think that hurt us as much, especially on the defensive end of the floor. I thought they did a better job defending and not allowing post guys to get comfortable on the block and because we didn’t have the offensive flow that we normally generate with those guys.”
On the chance to get better against Texas A&M…
“Well I’m hopeful that we have a group of guys that are built that way and that it matters to them that we had a setback like we had and that you have an opportunity to somewhat redeem yourself. I think it’s only fair. We’re hopeful that that’s what we have and we have a great opportunity to do that on Saturday.”