LSU’s opponent Tuesday night was no stranger to upsets.

Just two years removed from being the first 16 seed to down a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) was looking to stir up more surprises against the Tigers the PMAC.

Some early signs looked like there may be a little magic remaining in the Retrievers, but LSU’s dominance in the paint and disruptive defense ultimately led the Tigers to a 77-50 win to improve to 3-1 on the season.

“Overall we made progress, but we’re not where we need to be,” said LSU coach Will Wade. “We handled the ball a little bit better, and I thought we did a good job on the backboards. Our defense was solid. Overall I was pleased.”

LSU started slow, missing its first nine shots from the field and turning the ball over three times in the first five minutes to fall behind 11-3 early in the contest.

The Tigers’ first made basket didn’t come until the 12:41 mark on a Darius Days put back to cut the lead down to 11-5.

A pair of Emmitt Williams free throws knotted the game up at 17 with 8:28 left in the first half. That was part of a 17-3 run for LSU, which never turned back after taking the lead a minute and a half later.

“We’ve just got to huddle up and just talk about,” Days said of the sluggish start. “We went over in practice that we’ve just got to start sharing the ball more instead of taking ill-advised shots. Tonight showed it.”

The Tigers limited their turnovers to just 15 on the night and had a 12-minute stretch during the first half without a single giveaway.

In contrast, they scored 20 points off turnovers, out-rebounded the Retrievers 49-31 and held their opponent to just 31.1% shooting on the night as LSU slowly pulled away in the second half en route to the 27-point victory.

“Coach puts a big emphasis on (defense and rebounding),” Manning said. “Little stuff in the game always helps you win. If you’re not scoring, you can do other things to help the team. If you’re defense is good, something good will always happen on offense.”

LSU used a seven-man rotation in the first half, with only Manning and James Bishop coming off the bench, the latter seeing the court for fewer than 4 minutes in the first half.

Wade was able to tap into his bench more in the second half as he looks to build more depth and strengthen his core rotation on the floor.

“It couldn’t have played out any better for us,” said Wade, who played 10 total players Tuesday. “We got Bishop some confidence and get him out there playing. And to be able to rest Javonte (Smart) and Skylar (Mays) who had been playing major, major minutes was huge.”

Bishop played 19 minutes, going 6-of-8 from the floor with 9 points and 4 assists.

Manning led all scorers with 16 points on the night, followed by Watford with 12 and Days, who posted his second career double-double — and second in two games — with 10 points and 10 rebound.

“I wouldn’t have that if it wasn’t for my teammates,” said Days. “We passed the ball. We had less turnovers. We scored a lot of points, but that’s every night. Everybody got to do their thing tonight.”

Watford paced the Tigers with nearly 33 minutes on the floor, joining Days with a double-double, including a team-high 12 rebounds.

“We had to amp it up on defense today,” Watford said. “We knew we’d have ton get the ball more inside to the paint and kick it out for open threes.”

LSU travels to Montego Bay later this week for the Jamaica Classic, where it’ll square off with No. 15 Utah State (5-0) on Friday night and Rhode Island (2-1) on Sunday before returning home Thanksgiving week.