One fan said he didn't think the words he had to say could be printed.

Another season-ticket holder called the atmosphere as LSU's regular-season finale against Vanderbilt more of a protest than a basketball game.

And, well before tipoff, the student section was indeed doing anything in its power to turn the Pete Maravich Assembly Center into a purple-and-gold powder keg of emotion.

"I've been in this game a long time, but LSU has some of the best fans I've ever been around," interim coach Tony Benford said after the ensuing 80-59 rout of Vanderbilt to conclude a week of turmoil and potential distractions as reports tying Will Wade to an ongoing FBI investigation of NCAA recruiting violations spread Thursday. "I mean, it's the best fans in the country. They're just passionate about all their sports. And I just thought they were just really supportive of this group and did a great job of supporting this team."

Auburn's defeat of Tennessee earlier in the day had already secured the Tigers at least their first share of an SEC regular-season championship since 2009.

LSU President and Chancellor F. King Alexander and Director of Athletics Joe Alleva announced an indefinite suspension of Wade through a joint news release Friday afternoon.

"Once we watched the game early today where Auburn been Tennessee, we said, 'Guys, we don't want to share this with anybody. Let's go out and win it,'" Benford said. "And I thought we did a great job of staying focused and getting the job done."

The program decided Saturday to sit freshman guard Javonte Smart as a precaution following his last name being mentioned in the transcript of a wire-tapped conversation of Wade released Thursday by Yahoo! Sports.

And freshman forward Naz Reid sat the game after being hit hard in the face in Wednesday's 82-77 overtime victory at Florida.

Nonetheless, the Tigers took immediate advantage of the opportunity to claim its crown outright on the center stage amid a sea of "Free Will Wade" and "Free Javonte Smart."

"I'll be honest with you, I'm happy we're all about Will Wade," said season-ticket holder Robert Vial, a 1991 graduate and father of recent basketball player Reed Vial. "He's been incredible. I think he's not only a winner here, I think he's a hard worker. And the reward for hard work is winning, and it's a shame he won't be here to see the end result of hard work. But I'm glad everybody's supporting him.

"I wish that there were more facts than just opinion. And I think that things are just a little bit reactionary, and I'm a facts-based guy, so I would just keep playing and going my thing until there are facts. I think there's smoke, and there's fire."

Senior big man Kavell Bigby-Williams opened his final game in Baton Rouge with an emphatic dunk to fan the flame, as the crowd and team continued to feed off one another's energy.

A handful of possessions later, the Tigers were off to a 16-3 run to pull away from the Commodores, 26-13.

Vanderbilt (9-22, 0-18) never pulled back any closer than nine points.

"This is what we all came here for is to play in an atmosphere like that — people cheering for you or protesting or whatever's going on," said junior guard Marshall Graves, who played his high school ball on campus at University Lab. "It's a college atmosphere. This is what we all came here to do. We have great fans. We play for a great state, and we do our best to represent them well."

By halftime, Darius Days had become LSU's first player to hit four 3-pointers against the Commodores since fallen teammate Wayde Sims did so in 2016.

The freshman forward's 12 points before the midway mark were his most since a career-high 14 points in the SEC home opener Jan. 8 against Alabama.

"He hit five out of six 3's," Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew said. "His (average) percent is about 30 or 31 percent. The most he hit was three in a game, and that was the first conference game of the year. We obviously did all of our research coming in for how we were going to defend, and it's tough when you put (Tremont) Waters in ball screens with him."

Graves, a former walk-on, had already set a new career-high scoring output of his own with three first-half 3's.

Days and Graves finished with 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Waters, the sophomore point guard, added 14 points, eight assists, four rebounds and four steals.

"Tremont was the coach on the floor," junior guard Skylar Mays said. "Tremont did a great job facilitating, knowing when to score and knowing when to make plays for others — which he's been great at all year."

Mays had 13 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Bigby-Williams enjoyed a hero's stroll to the bench in the final minute of his ninth double-double of the season with 10 points, 11 rebounds and two monster blocked shots.

And junior guard Marlon Taylor rounded out the six Tigers to score in double figures with 10 of his own.

"(Wade) was there in spirit, obviously," sophomore guard Tremont Waters said of Wade. "I'm pretty sure — like, 101 percent — that he watched the game. And I'm pretty sure when we messed up, he was yelling at the TV and throwing stuff at the TV. We know he's hard our backs since Day One, and obviously he's still there for us."

Led by the student section, a crowd of 13,546 kept the coach's name ever present.

Fans such as Vial and first-year business student Henry Steorts donned T-shirts reading, "I Will Wade For You" and "Free Will Wade," respectively.

Slews of signs supporting Wade and Smart, including a sheet painted with "Free Will Wade" across held up across four rows of students, dotted the entire arena which echoed with chants of the same.

And, by early in the second half, the student section began singing Wade-themed versions in unison to the melodies of school band's traditional songs.

"I think this is just determination," said Caleb Vedros, a theater freshman from New Orleans already wearing a 2019 SEC Champions T-shirt. "It's just causing more emotion inside everybody. That's the one thing LSU does best: When things come against, we kind of fight back as a fan base. That's one of the best things we do here."

Many, if not most fans, did not appear to necessarily claim Wade's innocence or guilt.

Steorts and Vial each referenced frustration with the Tigers specifically suffering — Steorts with the NCAA and FBI and Vial with hypercritical national media handling of the story — in a landscape in which they feel the program is far from alone in such discussions.

"Obviously, I can't say he's innocent or guilty, but I feel like it's pretty obvious that everyone does it, and I feel like they don't target certain schools," said Steorts, a Virginia native who remembers Wade succeeding Shaka Smart at VCU. "But now we win, and they target us."

But Alleva, sitting about 15 rows behind the home bench, was the clearest target of any Saturday night.

Boos, "Joe Must Geaux" chants and full-blown curses rained upon the athletic director from the moment he entered the scene and punctuated nearly any half-moment of silence.

A "Fire Joe Alleva" sign appeared after halftime as the PMAC's second-largest only to the students' "Free Will Wade" sheet before being quickly removed.

And the aggressive criticisms of Alleva reached loud volumes a close second only to highlight dunks and blocked shots and celebrations of Bigby-Williams, Sims and the conference title.

"We were like this all year, but sometimes you've gotta block out the peripheral," Benford said. "And when you get on that court, you've gotta stay focused. And I think our guys have kind of had blinders on, so to speak. Tunnel vision. Just lock in on your job, do your job. As coaches, we've gotta do our job, so each one of you has a job to do.

"Just do the things that you've been doing all year to help us to get to this point."

The Tigers did just that.

And, as a result, purple and gold streamers fell from the rafters in a celebration that culminated with each team member — including Smart, Reid and Wayde Sims' parents, Wayne and Fay — cutting down a piece of the net nearest the student section.

"I'm proud of all these guys," Mays said. "We deserve to be up here wearing these shirts and wearing these hats. We've come a long way, and we've still got a long way to go, but we're happy with where we're at right now."

LSU heads next to the conference tournament in Nashville, Tenn. — Wade's hometown — as the No. 1 seed to seek its first championship in that event since 1980.

The Tigers will await the winner of a Thursday matchup between eight-seeded Florida (17-14, 9-9) and ninth-seeded Arkansas (17-14, 8-10).

"We have confidence," Mays said. "We've been every team in the league, so we know that we're capable of beating every team. Obviously we're the hunted, so we have a lot that we're playing for, but we have a special group. Obviously we're really resilient, and we're gonna battle like we do every night. We have a lot to accomplish, so we're gonna be out there motivated."