A red-hot start from beyond the arc helped the Tigers win their 16th straight game at the PMAC, opening SEC play with a decisive 88-79 victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Alabama was fresh off a win over No. 13 Kentucky on Saturday while LSU was playing its first game in over a week and the extra days rest boded well for the young Tiger squad.

“I knew our team was ready to play,” Wade said. “We had some really good practices and we’ve gotten a lot better. We’re going to continue to get better but we were ready to rock and roll.”

The Tigers lead by as many as 15 points in the first half, thanks largely to the 3-point line where four different players connected on at least one triple. The team went 8-for-10 in the first half and added two more in the second half.

Freshmen Darius Days and Ja’vonte Smart carried the offensive load as the first half wound down, scoring 16 of the final 19 points as the Tigers took a 43-28 lead to the break. Days ended the first half with a bank shot triple that left the PMAC at its loudest roars of the evening.

“I give it all to my team,” Smart said. “They found me and I was able to knock down open shots.

Smart scored or assisted on the final 19 points scored by LSU in the first half while sophomore guard Tremont Waters poured in an efficient 10 first half points. Days and Smart combined for 29 points off the bench, the first game for Smart in that bench role.

LSU continued its scrappy play in the second half, particularly with the effort from senior big man Kavell Bigby-Williams who scored six points and grabbed four boards in the first three minutes. The senior’s contributions were extremely valuable as he finished with 14 points, 13 boards and five blocks.

One thing LSU proved to itself is that when it gets a large lead, it can now hold on to that lead. Every time Alabama made a few baskets in a row, the Tigers responded with a mini-run of their own.

The Crimson Tide cut a 19 point lead to 11 with about 15 minutes to go in the game. LSU remained composed and proceeded to answer with seven straight points of its own to get the lead back to 18. Four minutes later, the Crimson Tide cut a 17 point LSU lead to eight.

LSU responded by drawing fouls, knocking down four straight free throws between Smart and Bigby-Williams. The Tigers had been struggling from the free throw line but a 22-for-27 effort laid to rest some of those concerns.

“We were able to hold them at bay,” Wade said. “In those situations you just don’t want it to get to a one possession game and it never got to a one possession game which was critical.”

A fifth foul from freshman Naz Reid ended his night with five minutes to go and brought the LSU lead back to single digits at eight points. Waters, who finished with 19 points and seven assists would need to be relied on to close the game out.

“I feel like if I’m playing full court defense my offense is going to flow a little better,” Waters said. “I’m trying to make the simple plays and just keeping the ball moving which is a big emphasis for our team.”

With a possession breaking down and Waters on the floor with the ball, the sophomore guard delivered a perfect bounce pass to an unguarded Days under the basket that turned near disaster into two points.

Bigby-Williams made a put-back dunk on a missed Smart layup to put LSU up six with 1:19 to go that put the game to bed.

“I just tried to play hard,” Bigby-Williams said. “It’s not about the minutes you get but how productive you are in those minutes.”