LSU's length and athleticism was displayed in full force Tuesday in arguably its best defensive performance of the season en route to a 83-69 defeat of No. 18 Ole Miss for a second road victory in four days.

The Tigers struggled through a rough start offensively as they missed their first four shots but didn’t let the shooting struggles frustrate them on defense.

A 2-for-8 start from the Rebels kept the score tied at 4-4, five minutes into the game.

Coach Will Wade said before the game that LSU (13-3, 3-0) would need to match the guard play of Ole Miss (13-2, 3-1), and junior transfer Marlon Taylor and sophomore point guard Tremont Waters responded to the challenge.

Taylor was the spark plug the stagnant LSU offense needed to get going after a slow start, scoring seven of his 12 total points in the first 10 minutes of the game.

A four-minute scoring drought could’ve left a big deficit for the Tigers to overcome, but the Rebels were unable to take advantage of the opportunity, leading 20-14 with 9:30 to go in the first half. This once again allowed LSU to gather some composure and received a much needed boost with an alley-oop from Waters to Taylor.

Waters, who struggled for much of the first half, got going when it mattered most, scoring five points in its final 90 seconds to bring the game to a 31-31 tie at the break.

The sophomore finished the game with 20 points and nine assists, most of which came in the second half.

Neither team could buy a bucket in the first half as LSU shot 36 percent in the opening frame while Ole Miss didn’t fare much better at 39 percent.

The Rebels' primary source of scoring came on second half opportunities, scoring 16 of their 31 first-half points off 11 offensive rebounds.

Kavell Bigby-Williams responded well for the Tigers after a poor outing against Arkansas where he was limited by foul trouble.

The senior big man dominated the paint with 14 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks and anchoring his team's stingy defensive second half.

As a team, LSU forced 16 turnovers and combined for seven blocks and 10 steals.

The Tigers held Ole Miss to 3-for-9 shooting to start the second half, meanwhile connecting on six of their own first eight attempts to jump out to a 48-39 advantage in the first five minutes.

LSU's 13-2 run to start the second half was capped off by a Waters steal that led to an easy transition dunk for freshman forward Naz Reid to completely silence the Ole Miss crowd.

Waters was sensational in the second half after the poor start, scoring 15 points on an efficient 5-of-6 shooting and adding four of his assists.

After an 0-for-4 start from 3-point land, LSU proceeded to connect on nine of its next 15 attempts from beyond the arc with five of them coming in the second half to finish 9-for-19 (47.4 percent).

On the other end, Ole Miss who came in top-5 in the conference in 3-point shooting percentage, went just 8-for-28 (28.6 percent) as a team.

LSU relied heavily on Waters down the stretch, who connected on a clutch 3 when Ole Miss cut the lead down to six late in the second half and made the right decisions with the ball in his hands.

Reid, who had gone scoreless in the first half due to foul trouble, was able to get going a bit in the second finishing with nine points.