LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson made it clear at Wednesday’s media day he is ready to put last season behind him.
The Tigers had an abysmal 2-14 Southeastern Conference record in 2009-10, one year after making the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“The bottom line is we lost a level of respect,” Johnson said. “We lost a level of confidence.”
Johnson said he sees something different with this year’s group.
“We’re in a situation right now where these guys and us as a coaching staff feel really good about us fighting our way back to respectability,” he said.
Johnson said junior forward Malcolm White, who sat out last season after transferring from Ole Miss, is the one guy he feels “really good about” putting on the court.
White shot 50 percent and averaged 7.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game his sophomore season for the Rebels.
Junior forward Storm Warren, who averaged 11.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last season, said he battles against White every practice.
“I love going up against him every day because he’s just like me,” Warren said. “He’s never going to quit.”
Freshman Ralston Turner and sophomore Aaron Dotson are competing at shooting guard. Dotson, who averaged 3.2 points per game, said he feels healthy now after knee problems hindered his play last season.
“A lot of my game coming into LSU was based off slashing, getting to the hole and creating fouls, and not being able to jump was a huge part of me not being successful last year,” Dotson said.
He said all four freshmen have something to offer, but 5-foot-9 freshman guard Andre Stringer especially surprised him.
“Coming in, I didn’t know how he was going to be because he was so small,” Dotson said. “But he’s really good. He has a really good shot and a really good change of pace.”
Johnson said it’s currently a point guard-by-committee system with Stringer, junior Chris Bass and sophomore walk-on Daron Populist.
LSU lost last season’s leading scorer Tasmin Mitchell, who averaged 16.8 points per game in his senior campaign. Johnson said there are multiple players this season who could score between nine and 12 points per game but nobody capable of scoring like Mitchell at this point.
CHANCELLOR DISCUSSES LOSS OF HIGHTOWER
LSU women’s basketball coach Van Chancellor also addressed the media Wednesday about the loss of guard Allison Hightower, the Lady Tigers’ leading scorer last season.
“When I think about losing Hightower, I think about losing three players — our best defender, our best scorer and our best player to beat the press,” Chancellor said.
The Lady Tigers finished 9-7 in the SEC and 21-10 overall last year, making it to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Chancellor said junior forward LaSondra Barrett and senior guard Katherine Graham need to anchor the team in Hightower’s stead.
Graham led the Lady Tigers with 3.5 assists per game last season, and Barrett led LSU with 6.6 rebounds per game.
Chancellor said he can already see a difference in Barrett’s work ethic.
“She had a tendency the first two years to practice a while and coast a while,” Chancellor said. “She’s cut out the coasting.”
With Hightower gone, Graham will most likely have to guard the opposition’s best perimeter player and provide more offense.
“I definitely think I need to be a little more offensive-minded, a little bit more aggressive as far as trying to muster up some points,” Graham said.
Chancellor said all 13 active players, including three freshmen, will have a role and a chance to start.
“We usually by now have put together a five,” Chancellor said. “We have not come close.”
Excitement brewed about freshman guard Jeanne Kenney, whose 3-point shooting will stretch opposing defenses, according to Graham.
“She can just flat out shoot,” Graham said.
The Lady Tigers play Connecticut and Tennessee on the road, and Chancellor said the home opener against Ohio State is the toughest he has ever had in coaching.
“If you want to call yourself an elite program, you’ve got to play great competition,” he said.
____
Contact Rowan Kavner at [email protected]