Johnson, Fox have long history
“There’s a relationship ... but he’s as competitive as all-get out. He’s going to be miserable if things don’t go well for him, and I’m going to be miserable if things don’t go well for me.” Trent Johnson, LSU coach
When his Tigers face Georgia on Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, LSU men’s basketball coach Trent Johnson will match wits with Mark Fox for the third time.
The two men have a long history together, first as assistants at the University of Washington in the early 1990s and later when Johnson became the head man at Nevada and tabbed Fox as his top assistant. Fox later succeeded Johnson as the head coach at Nevada and kept the Western Athletic Conference squad competing for NCAA tournament berths.
“There’s a relationship there, but he’s as competitive as all-get out,” Johnson said. “He’s going to be miserable if things don’t go well for him, and I’m going to be miserable if things don’t go well for me. It’s not like we’re going to hug and kiss when we get out there.”
During their run together at Washington, Johnson introduced Fox to his future wife.
Not only are the coaches old friends, but they also share a mutual respect.
“He has a job to do just like I do in terms of trying to get our kids prepared to do the best we can,” Johnson said. “But I like playing people I don’t like as opposed to people I have a lot of respect for.”
Georgia reached the NCAA tournament last year in Fox’s second season, but has had a hard time replacing Trey Thompkins and Travis Leslie after both underclassmen left a year early to enter the NBA draft. The Bulldogs (12-14, 3-9) lead only last-place South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference standings.
LSU (16-10, 6-6) looks to build on a three-game winning streak after starting 2-5 in SEC play.
“I know how important it is to him, and I’m pretty sure he knows how important it is to me in terms of competing,” Johnson said. “But we spent a lot of time together. I don’t care what anybody says, that’s usually tough.”
Johnson and Fox have split their first two meetings as SEC rivals, with LSU winning 50-48 in Baton Rouge two years ago and Georgia scoring a 73-53 victory in Athens last season.
Breaking ties
LSU has moved into a share of fourth place in the SEC along with Mississippi State, Tennessee and Alabama, with all four teams sporting a 6-6 league mark.
With the conference moving away from divisional play this season for the first time since league expansion, the series of tiebreakers to determine seedings at the SEC tournament in New Orleans next month could be as complicated as ever.
Teams that finish 1-4 in the standings receive a first-round bye.
To break a two-team tie, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition, and the second is won-lost record of the two teams versus the No. 1 seed (proceeding through the No. 12 seed, if necessary). To break a tie involving three or more teams, the first tiebreaker is the best winning percentage of games played among the tied teams and the second is the best winning percentage of the tied teams versus the No. 1 seed (and proceeding through the No. 12 seed, if necessary).
If two teams remain after the first set of tiebreakers, a coin flip by the commissioner would break the tie. If three or more teams remain, a draw by the commissioner would decide seedings.
Finding their shot
LSU ranks 10th in the SEC in field-goal percentage at 41.1 percent, but the team has found its stroke in putting together three straight wins.
The Tigers are shooting 46 percent from the field in those three games. They shot 57.7 percent from the field in the second half of Saturday’s victory at South Carolina after shooting 39.1 percent in the first.
“We’ve been hitting shots in practice,” LSU guard Andre Stringer said. “I think it just carries over to the games.”
Stringer, shooting 33.8 percent for the season, has shot 39.2 percent from the field during the winning streak. Fellow sophomore Ralston Turner, who battled a prolonged funk earlier in the year, has shot 43.4 percent from the field during the streak.
Reverse roles
Senior forward Storm Warren, who came off the bench against Mississippi State to register a double-double, got his first start Saturday at South Carolina since Jan. 25. He responded with another big game, scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
Freshman forward Johnny O’Bryant III, who has generally started alongside Justin Hamilton in the post, came off the bench Saturday to score eight points and pull down seven rebounds.
O’Bryant III said he is comfortable whether Johnson starts him or not. He said Warren feels the same way.
“Just whatever the team needs. If he feels like starting Storm is the way it needs to be, I’m going to come off the bench and just try to give us a spark,” O’Bryant said. “It really doesn’t matter to me or (Warren). We’re just playing basketball and trying to get a win.”