With many preseason questions hovering around the LSU men’s basketball team, coach Trent Johnson was happy to get the first game finished. LSU (1-0) quelled any upset aspirations Louisiana-Monroe (0-1) had Friday night in the PMAC by trouncing the Warhawks, 82-62. “It’s nice to get that one out the way,” Johnson said. “We’ve got our work to do. We’ve got a very, very good basketball team coming in here in Indiana State who’s an experienced team and very disciplined.”The Sycamores (1-0) will play the Tigers in the first game of the Preseason NIT Tip-Off on Monday at 7 p.m.”Indiana State is not going to let us run up and down,” Johnson said. “They’re going to contest everything. Our deficiencies from an experience factor are going to be exposed.”Indiana State’s version of the Princeton offense is what Johnson believes will give LSU the biggest fits.”We’re going to be put in situations in the halfcourt where we’re going to really have to execute,” Johnson said. “Defensively, because they’re experienced and well- coached, they’re a senior-laden team, they run the Princeton [offense], so we’re going to really be tested.” This isn’t Johnson’s first experience with the Princeton offense. Nearly three years ago, an experienced Air Force team punished Johnson’s youthful Stanford squad, 79-45, at home. “It sort of worries me because I was in a situation before when I was at Stanford, and we had a bunch of freshmen, and an Air Force team came in there, and before we knew it, we looked up at the scoreboard and were down 30 at home,” Johnson said. “My point is that the system Princeton and Air Force run, it exploits inexperience.”Fortunately for the Tigers, that inexperience didn’t affect them much against ULM. Sophomore forward Storm Warren, who played a reserve role last season, turned in a career-best performance by scoring 15 points and snatching 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Chris Bass and redshirt freshman forward Dennis Harris also turned heads off the bench. Bass finished with seven points, five assists and four steals. Harris, whose athleticism resembled former Tiger center Chris Johnson, had nine points with four rebounds.”I thought Chris Bass and Dennis Harris did a really good job of coming off the bench and helping us get off to a good start,” Johnson said. “They gave us great energy. For those two, it shows how much they’ve been improving along with Storm.”With projected starter Alex Farrer out for at least six weeks with a dislocated kneecap, Bass and junior guard Bo Spencer were forced to play together often. Both are natural point guards, but Johnson said Spencer’s scoring ability makes it easier to move him to shooting guard.”I prefer to see Bo anywhere on the floor where it puts him in a situation where he’s under control and helps us win a possession,” Johnson said. “With Chris Bass playing like he’s playing, I have no problem with Bo going over to the two [guard position].”Spencer said he thought the backcourt duo played well but could use some improvement in terms of ball handling. “We did a fairly decent job,” Spencer said. “I think we turned it over a few times. We’ll get better with it.” The two leaders of the team, Spencer and senior forward Tasmin Mitchell, were a steady force throughout. Spencer scored a    game-high 23 points and dished out five assists in his 38 minutes on the court. Mitchell, in his debut back at small forward, scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in 35 minutes of action. “I like that we had Bo out there a lot, but Bo and Taz are going to play,” Johnson said. “They’re going to have to play their way through a lot of conditioning.”The pair will likely garner much attention Monday from the Sycamores, and Johnson said he hopes the younger players will step up.”They’re going to try to take our two best, most experienced players away,” Johnson said. “So that’s going to put a premium on the other guys making good decisions and shooting the ball in rhythm.”- – – -Contact Chris Branch at [email protected]