As LSU senior guard Josh Gray finished up a second round of interviews after his season debut with the Tigers on Monday night, fellow senior guard Keith Hornsby wheeled into the hallway area of the practice facility on his self-balancing scooter, happy to see Gray getting some positive attention.
“Yes, sir.” Hornsby said to Gray, nodding his head in an approval. “Yes, sir!”
If there’s any Tiger Hornsby should be excited for, it’s Gray, whose time in Baton Rouge has been somewhat of a roller coaster. After a one-game suspension for LSU’s season opener against McNeese State University, Gray stepped in against Kennesaw State University and filled up the stat sheet. He recorded 16 points, six rebounds and six assists in 22 minutes off the bench in a 91-69 Tiger win.
More importantly, Gray had three steals against two turnovers, which came sandwiched between a series of three straight turnovers for LSU. Even after the second of those two turnovers, the veteran point guard drained a three-pointer from the wing two possessions later, notching a 2-for-3 clip from the behind the arc on the night.
But at this point in his career, Gray is hardly worried about his individual numbers. The stat sheet in front of him during the postgame news conference is as meaningless as anything that happened last season.
“Some nights, I might not score,” Gray said. “Some nights, I might go for a career high. I just want to play hard and win. That’s why I came back here, just to win.
“I don’t really care about this sheet of paper or what’s on there.”
After losing his starting job last season following moments of inconsistency, the Lake Charles, Louisiana, native’s approach has completely changed. He’s acknowledged negative media coverage and criticism from fans grinded at him, seemingly never able to focus on what lies ahead.
As he alluded to, Gray even considered transferring at one point after the conclusion of his first season with LSU, which would be the third time he switched schools. But LSU coach Johnny Jones persuaded him to come back, knowing a veteran guard could still be valuable to a deep rotation.
The expectations, both from the program and himself, were high after he led all junior college players in points per game in one year at Odessa College, but the experience last season humbled him and changed his perspective.
“My whole mentality changed,” Gray said. “I just tried to block out everything that doesn’t matter, everything that doesn’t affect me. Just try to stay tunnel vision. Just focus on my teammates, my coaching staff and focus on my senior year. I feel like, me just being so focused like I am, opportunity like this will happen for me often.”
But then came the setback in early August, when Gray played in an NCAA-unsanctioned game, forcing him to miss the five-game tour of Australia and the first win against the Cowboys.
By Monday night, though, he was finally ready to go, and he made the most of his time on the floor, helping ignite a 28-6 LSU run to finish the first half.
“That tells you what kind of person he is,” said freshman guard Antonio Blakeney. “Not only player, but the kind of person he is. Somebody who can keep their head and be able to do well in those situation.”
Gray actually ended up playing more minutes than starting point guard Tim Quarterman, who picked up three fouls in the second half and didn’t return to the game after the 12:34 mark.
With Quarterman resting with a huge Tiger lead, Jones got exactly what he wanted out of Gray, which is a positive sign for the LSU backcourt while Hornsby recovers from an injury.
“He had an all-around game in running this team,” Jones said. “That’s something we look forward to if we can get that type of productivity out of our point guards, whether it’s Tim or Josh, who played 22 minutes tonight. That’s huge for us. If we can get both of our points to play that way, we have a lot of great things in store for us.”