LSU Basketball Spotlight: Josh Gray

In an unexpected turn of events, LSU lost three year starting point guard Anthony Hickey. Luckily, LSU has an elite level junior college point guard waiting in the wings. The Lake Charles native started his college career at Texas Tech where he was one of the best freshman in the Big 12. He averaged 9.3 points per contest as well as 3.2 assists in 26.7 minutes per game.

Even as a freshman, Gray showed an ability to take over games. He had back to back 20+ point games late in his freshman season and was able to get 5 or more assists in 7 of his last 13 games that season. After Texas Tech fired their coach, Gray and his family decided his best option was to transfer to Odessa Junior College for his sophomore season.

The sophomore point guard made a big splash leading all junior college players with 33.8 points per game. He also averaged 5.9 assists per game. Not only were his totals up, his shooting percentages were higher. After shooting only 18.8% from three point range as a freshman, he rose his deep shot percentage to 30.6%. He also moved his free throw percentage up above 70% (199/282). He was later named the number one junior college prospect before signing with LSU.

Defensively, he averaged 2.0 steals per game at Texas Tech and 2.7 steals per game at Odessa (12th best in JUCO). The 6'1" guard uses a combination of his speed and quickness to disrupt opponents at the point of their attack.



At LSU he will be asked to be a partially different player. While he comes to LSU known for being JUCO's leading scorer, Coach Jones will ask Gray to become a pass first point guard. Gray has the ability to take the ball hard to the hoop and get to the free throw line as well as dish off passes while at full speed. Tiger players are also having to get use to Gray's love for no look passes.



What can we expect from Gray:

Josh Gray will be LSU's starting point guard. While he has the ability to make his own scoring opportunities, he will be more likely to make offense for others. Expect a lot of pick and roll sets with Martin and/or Mickey. He was a volume scorer in junior college, but I think you will be able to judge how effective LSU's offense is based on how few shots Gray has to take.

With the weapons around him, Gray could easily average over 6 assists per game (averaged 5.9 at Odessa). LSU has not had a player reach 4.7 assists per game since '02-'03 season when Torris Bright was LSU's point guard (Missouri PG Pressey averaged 7.1 APG last season). I'd expect for Gray to continue to raise his shooting percentages. While I don't think he will be a 40% three point shooter, he should be able to shoot in the mid 30% range to keep defenses honest.



Geaux Tigers!

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