LAZARE: Best week in a long time for LSU basketball

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A first glance, the numbers indicated that LSU was probably in trouble against South Carolina on Saturday evening.

The Tigers shot 42 percent from the field – a couple of percentage points less than the Gamecocks. To make things worse, LSU connected on just three of its 19 field goal attempts.

However, there were two other statistics which were the reason for LSU’s 89-67 beatdown of South Carolina at the PMAC.

First, the Tigers went to the foul line 35 times and made 32. Only seven times in school history had LSU made more free throws in a game. The Gamecocks were just 6-of-14 at the foul line.

Second, the Tigers held a 20-rebound cushion over South Carolina. Fifteen of LSU’s 49 rebounds came off the offensive glass. Those 15 rebounds were converted into 20 second-chance points.

Tigers coach Will Wade was excited that the formula for a victory was not business as usual.

“It was good to see us win in a different way,” Wade said. “We were shooting 53 percent from three as of late. That’s not necessarily sustainable all the time. You have to have other ways to win. For us to win when we didn’t shoot it well from three is certainly a positive.

“Our rebounding has been good in the conference. We had 15 offensive rebounds which was really, really good. Then, we did a good job of limiting them to one shot most of the time. We didn’t outrebound a lot of non-conference opponents, much less by that margin.”

Two weeks into LSU’s SEC schedule, it is one of two league unbeaten teams. Tennessee sits at the top of the standings at 5-0, while the Tigers are 4-0. Only four times in the last 50 seasons has LSU won its first four SEC games.

The Tigers’ most recent week involved a couple of double-digit victories against teams who had not yet lost a conference game. LSU beat Ole Miss 83-69 in Oxford before taking care of South Carolina in the PMAC.

Over the past two seasons, the Tigers won consecutive SEC games just one time – against Auburn and Arkansas a year ago. Winning back-to-back conference games by double digits has been a rarity for LSU basketball. Beginning with the 2010 season, the Tigers have accomplished that feat just four times.

One could make the point that LSU enjoyed its best two-game stretch against SEC opponents since the 2009 season when they won the league title. The Tigers had not posted consecutive conference victories by at least 14 points since that 2009 campaign.

LSU continued to exhibit a balanced scoring attack in picking up the victories against the Rebels and the Gamecocks. Seven of the players in the Tigers’ eight-man rotation averaged at least ten points per game. Darius Days was the only member of the rotation who did not score 20 points this past week.

Kavell Bigby-Williams is developing into quite a presence in the middle. He scored 26 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in the two games. Bigby-Williams made 10 of his 14 field goal attempts. Emmitt Williams accounted for 21 points and 16 rebounds – most of which came against South Carolina.

All four perimeter players scored at least 20 points in the two games. The top producer was point guard Tremont Waters, who scored 32 points and handed out 15 assists in the two games. Waters made 11 of his 20 field goal attempts.

Waters has a huge fan in Gamecocks coach Frank Martin.

“Waters is very difficult to cover,” Martin said. “He is difficult to guard when you play well. When you do not play well, you get embarrassed. Waters is an unbelievable competitor who has great instincts for the game.

“In this day and age when you usually see guys dribble the ball 147 times, he gets everybody the ball. When you cheat, he attacks you. He is a very good basketball player, but it’s the competitive nature that puts him over the top.”

LSU finds itself in a different situation this week. The Tigers will be favored to extend their SEC record to 6-0. LSU’s two opponents – Georgia on Wednesday at the PMAC and Missouri on Saturday in Columbia – have both won only one SEC game. The Tigers will become the hunted team now.

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