BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team returned to practice on Thursday in preparation for Saturday’s road game at Athens against the University of Georgia.
Ironically, the Tigers played one of the first games of the mid-week on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Georgia, while the Bulldogs did not play their mid-week contest until tonight on the road at Alabama.
The Tigers will be looking to get out of their long losing streak as the season enters its final three games of the regular season. The game is set for 5 p.m. Baton Rouge time and will be available on the LSU Sports Radio Network and televised by the SEC Network.
Coach Johnny Jones met with the media on Thursday prior to the resumption of practice and here are some of his comments:
Opening statement…
“We’re looking forward to playing another tough opponent on the road in Georgia. They’re a team that’s had some extremely close calls in terms of their setbacks and they’ve had some impressive wins as well. We know it’ll be a challenge on Saturday afternoon and we look forward to having the opportunity to go up and compete with one of the better teams in our league. Coach (Mark) Fox has done a tremendous job over the years and he’s put together another really nice team that he has put together.”
On player saying practices good …
“Practice has been good. The guys have competed. Our deal is trying to win in the film room and on the practice floor and hopefully that will transition at some point in the games for us. I’m sure his part about the game is about the setbacks that we’ve had. We haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy that part of it. The good part about it is they’ve continued to come to practice at a certain level and that gives us hope. It keeps us excited about our next opportunity to go out and compete.”
On if he has to work with players’ mindset during the streak…
“It’s nothing that I’ve practiced before. I haven’t had a whole lot of experience with this type of situation. I’m familiar with how you deal with setbacks and unfortunately we’ve had several. Our thing is now to make sure they understand what we’re going through, you can’t get through it unless you continue to fight and battle and compete at a certain level to try to overcome it. It’s not going to take care of itself, its something that you have to take care of and work to get to the other side of it. That’s my job, is to make sure I can keep them focused to the point and keep them driven to be able to do those things. It’s just a part of growing up. I think if you’re running a company or anything else and you had people that were working there, and there was a drive to make the company better and you didn’t have any other options, that’s exactly what you’d do, and that’s really the approach that we have to take with these guys. They have to make sure they come to work every day in practice and make sure that they can get better and pass their next test.”
On if the team plays better on the road…
“I’ve had that with some of our other teams. Jarell (Martin) and Jordan (Mickey) and all those guys, I thought they competed extremely well on the road. I think we went 6-3 and 5-4 at home with that team, but we were 8-1 last year at home. We had more problems on the road with last year’s team. It’s hard to tell because of our record, but I think they’ve been able to compete. Sometimes you play better in the confines of your own building, but there becomes a lot of distractions now. It just depends on the type of setting that you have, and you just have to address it accordingly.”
On the guys still being together…
“The guys have been terrific. They had meetings yesterday and following the meeting they came and probably sat in my office for 30 or 45 minutes. They just sat there and talked and visited. It was great camaraderie. It was good just to see them and it was our day off. They just kind of dropped in. It’s encouraging to know where they are and its gratifying to me to know their state of mind that they are in. I’m going to be honest with you; I don’t know where I would be as a player. Well, I do know how I would be because of the person that I played for and the way that he is. If unfortunately we had gone through stretches like that he would’ve kept guys focused and motivated. It’s good to see where they are and continuing to be in the good place and fighting.”
On hating the losing situation…
“It’s gotten to be a bit much now … None of us saw this coming, and obviously Craig (Victor) getting dismissed and having the type of effect that it had. For guys to continue to come to work every day and try to prepare and get better … That’s been the good part of it and it’s certainly tough life lessons that this group is learning. At the same time at some point I think they’ll benefit from it because I think they all have much brighter days in front of them.”
On how he handles losing when he’s such a big part of LSU’s tradition…
“It’s one of the toughest things to deal with. Having played and never having had setbacks like this and as an assistant we went through some losing seasons but nothing like this with this type of stretch. But I can be someone else’s institution and working somewhere else and I would really have a tough feeling. But being here and being apart of this program and seeing what we’re going through is obviously something that you wrestle with. It’s difficult, it’s tough and you understand who the players are in terms of former players and the support group that you have. Whether it be administration or fan base, you know what you’re fighting for and you want it so bad for them, whether you’ve got the uniform on or sitting in the coaches seat or anything else. You’re fighting with them, and you know that same group is fighting for you and with you because they understand that feeling. I’ve been on that side of it, and the seat that I sit in now I think I get the double whammy because I feel it and then I feel it for our fans and our kids, families and everybody else involved.”