LSU guard Temeka Johnson nearly quoted Judy Garland from the Wizard of Oz when asked about playing the next three games in the PMAC.
“It’s always good to play at home,” Johnson said. “It’s like we walk into our house. You know where everything is. Us being home is like us being in our house, our comfort zone.”
Even though the Lady Tigers do not play in Kansas, Baton Rouge has been friendly to LSU this season. The Lady Tigers are 12-0 in the PMAC, including four Southeastern Conference victories.
But LSU plays three of its next four games at home and cannot expect to be able to relax down the stretch.
First on the homestand menu for LSU is Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. in the PMAC.
Jenni Benningfield leads the Vanderbilt offensive attack, averaging 13.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Two other players — Hillary Hager and Abi Ramsey — average double-digit point totals for Vandy.
Vanderbilt (16-7, 4-6 SEC) has lost four straight games, including a 94-88 loss to Tennessee last week.
But associate coach Pokey Chatman said once the first whistle blows tomorrow night, it does not matter what a team has done in previous games.
“You can discount that in this league,” Chatman said. “This is a very good Vanderbilt team that executes.”
Vandy holds a slight 14-12 edge against LSU in the all-time series, but the Lady Tigers have won two of the last three meetings between the two teams. That includes LSU’s victory last season in the SEC Tournament against Vandy en route to winning the SEC Championship.
No. 14 LSU (20-4, 8-2 SEC) is led by sophomore Seimone Augustus. Augustus averages 18.3 points per game on the season but is averaging 20.3 per SEC game — best in the conference. Augustus also shoots 96.2 percent from the free-throw line in conference play, which ranks first in the SEC.
Augustus said LSU is clicking on all cylinders right now.
“The team is coming together,” Augustus said. “We’ve got players coming off the bench that are contributing, as well as the people on the floor.”
Augustus, Johnson and Doneeka Hodges make up the “big three” for LSU.
Hodges averages 15.5 points per game and needs two 3-pointers to pass Chatman for second place in career 3-pointers made.
Also passing Chatman in the record books was Johnson, who jumped Chatman last week against Florida for first place in career assists. Johnson’s 573 career assists have come in 82 games. Chatman had 570 assists in 120 games.
Johnson leads the SEC with 8.1 assists per game but is averaging 9.1 assists per game in conference play.
The Lady Tigers have scored 90 or more points in three of their last four games. Johnson attributes the team’s success to the chemistry they have built throughout the course of the season.
“We are not growing in different or separate ways,” Johnson said. “We’re coming together as one, and that’s what we’ve talked about since the beginning of the season.”
Chatman said coming home for the stretch run should be productive in helping the Lady Tigers gain momentum going into the postseason.
“I feel good about the confines of home,” Chatman said. “We’ve been pretty good here.”