LSU defeated Vanderbilt, 83-68, in the home finale of the regular season Tuesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

LSU was led by freshman guard Cam Thomas and his 23 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Trendon Watford contributed a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Junior forward Darius Days tallied 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Maxwell Evans led Vanderbilt with 20 points.

The Tigers next game will be against Missouri on March 6 at 2 p.m. CT. in Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri. It will be broadcasted on the SEC Network.

QUOTES:

Will Wade...

“It’s good to get back on a winning track. I was very prepared of our guys. We prepared well. We played really well in the first half. In the second half we kind of reverted back to some things, giving up 44 points. Our communication and things defensively weren’t as sharp as we needed it to be. Overall, we needed to find a way to win after coming off last week and we did that. I want to take a second, we honored those three managers before the game, I want to thank them. They have been awesome. Squid, Patty and Quinn have been absolutely awesome. I want to thank them. I also want to thank our fans. Obviously, it’s our last home game. We had 2500 in here tonight. Our fans have been great all year. Everybody who sacrificed to make this happen and sacrificed to come to the games and still support our program. We really, really appreciate that. We don’t take that for granted. I thought our student section was great tonight. I thought considering the regulations, the crowds have been into the games. When we played Georgia, they were into the game, South Carolina, the Texas Tech game, the Tennessee game, the Auburn game, tonight, I think our crowds have been into the games. Hopefully we can get back to having a full house here soon. Really, really appreciative of that and then our two juniors. We don’t have any seniors, but they are very, very impressive. I don’t know if you guys know this, but this is the first time in 30 years that we have won 10 or more SEC games three-straight years. That’s not easy to do and certainly not easy to around here. Very, very proud of Javonte (Smart) and Darius (Days), they came here when there wasn’t a whole lot to believe in, outside of me selling them a vision. This is our third-straight year that we have gotten a double bye in the SEC Tournament where we are going to be a top-four seed. We came here and said that we wanted to build a consistent program. That’s about as consistent as it gets, finishing in the top four of the SEC. Every year you’re going to give yourself an opportunity to do great things. This is the first time we have had a winning record in the SEC for three-straight years, which is as crazy as that sounds. Very, very proud of our guys, particularly Javonte and Days for accomplishing that and (Aundre) Hyatt who has been here the whole time. I think that is very good for our program and where we are and where we want to continue to be.”

On what he said to Darius (Days) after the Arkansas game and how to approach this game …“Well, when he made those threes, we could have saved ourselves a lot of time and gone home. We don’t lose when he makes the threes. Actually, he was down in the gym shooting on Monday. He came in for his morning shooting. I just sat there and watched. I didn’t even go down there with the intention of talking to him and he came over and sat next to me when he got done and we just talked. I told him, play with energy, play with great energy, focus on rebounding. Focus on energy and the threes will go. When you focus on the threes, you lose all the other stuff. You don’t make the threes and the other stuff goes by the wayside. When you focus on the energy and focus on the rebounding, the threes come. He got his three, but he got a couple offensive rebounds before that out on the floor. I just told him to focus on that stuff, the stuff that he can control and then focus on great shots. He took great shots at Arkansas. I would sign up for every single one of those he took. Maybe the one off the bounce was a little bit tough. He took pretty good shots at Georgia as well. Those are hit or miss; those are come and go. Play with that energy, get on that glass and do those things and everything else goes into place. I thought Days did a great job tonight. I thought our guys shared the ball, we had 17 assists on 30 made baskets. I thought the ball moved better. I thought it was overall improvement from where we had been."

Forward Trendon Watford

On the intensity and first half tonight…“We knew we needed this win. We came out strong. We all came out flying. We always try to finish the first half strong and we did that tonight."

On playing together and playing a high level …“They say the sky’s the limit when we’re playing together. We have a bunch of great players. We need to play together. We did a great job of that tonight. Working on it at practice a few days ago. We just been trying to do a better job of that. When we do not things don’t turn out as well. It’s one of thing we’ve been focusing on. I think we did a good job playing together today.”

On Jalen Cook off the bench today…“Jalen (Cook) is a great player. He comes in and works every morning, even though some games he doesn’t get in. He’s always going to be working. It says a lot about him. He’s always going to be ready when his number is called. I see it every day from him, it’s no surprise for me, and the world is going to see it soon.”

Forward Darius Days

On how important his success is early on to the team…“I feel I’m one of the leaders on the team. Sometimes I’ve got to bring the energy. I was making shots early, playing hard defense. The guys followed me. Cam (Thomas) wasn’t having a great first half, but he came out in the second half and went bananas. Trendon (Watford) facilitated well tonight. The biggest energy was Cook and (Eric) Gaines off the bench tonight. They played good defense and made big plays. They found the open guy and played well tonight together.

On his bounce back performance…“I felt I had to play hard. This was a must win as well. I played bad over the weekend. I reflected and talked to Coach. I’m in here working everyday with the other guys. Performances like that should be second nature. We can’t make every shot, me going 0-for-8 on the weekend was bad. I was more determined tonight to get rebounds. I have been lacking there. Playing hard on defense and talking to my teammates.”

On why his good games lead to wins…“I just bring different things to the table. For example, diving on loose balls, rebounding, communicating. Doing things that other guys wouldn’t do. Communicating with each other. Javonte (Smart) runs the team, but I still talk to the guys, talk to Cam (Thomas). Keep everyone levelheaded, huddle the guys up. The little things are important, nothing too major.”