Dogs gone! LSU wins at Georgia, moves into first-place tie in SEC with Vols

The Bulldogs missed 8-of-10 field goals in the final five minutes and the Tigers got key plays from guard Tremont Waters and forward Kavell Bigby-Williams to escape Athens with an 83-79 SEC road victory on Saturday.

Waters scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, but in the game’s final 5:13 he twice fed Bigby-Williams for baskets and also scored on a layup after a Skylar Mays steal.

Bigby-Williams, who finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots, also grabbed two rebounds and blocked two shots in the final 1:05. It included slapping down a 3-point attempt by Georgia’s Jordan Harris with three seconds left.

“It wasn’t pretty, it never is on the road,” said LSU coach Will Wade, whose Tigers improved to 21-4 overall and 11-1 in the SEC. “We ended up making enough plays and having no turnovers in the second half is ultimately what ended up saving us. We were able to gut it out and win.”

Combined with Kentucky's 86-69 home win over No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday night, the Vols suffered their first SEC loss and dropped into a first-place tie for the SEC lead with the Tigers.

LSU’s struggle at Georgia, wasn’t a case of looking back at its Tuesday win at Kentucky or ahead to its three-home stand that starts Wednesday against Florida.

The Bulldogs (10-15, 1-11 SEC), entering Saturday’s game on a five-game losing streak, had LSU’s full attention.

Yes, the Tigers handled Georgia 92-82 in Baton Rouge on Jan. 23. But in the second half of that win after LSU built a 17-point lead with 13:07 left, Georgia cut the Tigers’ lead to seven points at the 4:08 mark. Then, Waters scored seven of his game-high 26 points in the final 2:57.

The fact that Georgia outscored LSU in the second half 46-44 in the first meeting between the teams gave the Bulldogs’ confidence in Saturday’s game that they could certainly hang with the Tigers.

If it wasn’t for Waters scoring 16 points in the opening half, LSU might have been staring at halftime deficit.

Mays and forward Naz Reid, who combined for 21 halftime points in the Tigers’ January victory over Georgia, had just two points at the break Saturday with Reid going scoreless.

Reid scored eight of LSU’s first nine points of the second half, yet the Bulldogs made 10 of their first 12 field goals after halftime. At one point, Georgia drained seven straight shots.

Yet thanks to another solid effort from LSU’s bench, especially freshman guard Javonte Smart who scored 19 points including 3-of-4 3-pointers, the Tigers never trailed by more than five points after halftime.

The game was last tied at 68-68 with 7:03 left and a 10-3 LSU run in a 2½-minute span pushed the Tigers to an 8-point lead at 82-74 on a Reid tip-in with 2:43 left.

“We were able to survive, we had some good defense at the end,” Wade said. “But I told our guys we didn’t give a championship level effort today. If we want to compete for a championship, we’ve got to be better. We can’t give away points.”