NCAA basketball tournament bid day is two weeks from Sunday.

And LSU head coach Will Wade believes it’s about time his team recaptures its rip-roaring take-no-prisoners defensive style that led to 15 wins in this season’s first 16 games.

“I showed our team a highlight tape of us earlier in the year,” Wade said after his squad put its collective foot on Missouri’s throat in the second half of a 75-55 SEC win Saturday night in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. “We were in a (defensive) stance, turning our defense into offense. I think our guys certainly understood what I was talking about.”

It appeared that way when LSU, leading Missouri only 30-24 at halftime, opened the second half scoring 15 consecutive points in the first 4½ minutes. In that stretch of perfection, LSU hit 6 of 7 shots, forced Mizzou 0 of 3 shooting and scored 8 points off 4 turnovers including 2 shot clock violations.

Yes, it looked much like the terrific Tigers (20-9 overall, 8-8 in the SEC) that won 12 straight non-conference games and had a 3-1 SEC start with back-to-back wins over Kentucky and Tennessee. It had all the elements of team chemistry that disappeared when LSU starting point guard Xavier Pinson sat out 6 of 8 games rehabbing a sprained knee.

LSU went 2-6 when that happened, its playing rotation disrupted and its confidence taking a beating. Since then, the Tigers are 4-2 with their losses by a combined seven points in road games at South Carolina and Kentucky.

“We’ve been going hard in practice,” said LSU freshman starting guard Brandon Murray, who scored 11 points including the first two baskets in the Tigers’ second half Mizzou liftoff. “It’s just something I knew was going to happen, but you can’t really guess when it works out."

It seems like LSU was besieged in the last month with numerous problems trying to re-discover its mojo.

At one point, LSU was averaging almost 17 turnovers and 22 fouls in SEC games. Its free throw percentage nosedived 11 percent in league play. The Tigers had long periods of frigid shooting, punctuated by numerous missed shots around the rim.

In LSU’s 71-66 Wednesday loss at Kentucky, the Tigers missed 15 of 23 layups while UK made 11 of 13 layups. Entering Saturday’s game, LSU had made just 47.7 percent (149 of 312) of its layups in SEC play.

Against Missouri after a slow start, LSU seemed to have shored up its deficiencies. The Tigers had just 13 turnovers (it had a mere 8 in the Kentucky loss), made 19 of 23 free throws (a combined 15 of 15 from Tari Eason and Xavier Pinson) and shot 51 percent from the field (LSU’s best in SEC play this season) because it made 15 of 25 layups.

Sophomore forward Eason, the transfer from Cincinnati led LSU for 19th time this season (17 games by himself, 2 tied with another player), scoring 18 points, grabbing 6 rebounds and making 3 steals before fouling out.

He played just 19½ minutes because of his foul trouble.

But the Tigers didn’t dip when he went to the bench because junior reserve forward Shareef O’Neal had his best game of the season. With O’Neal’s dad, LSU basketball legend and Naismith Hall of Famer Shaquile O’Neal watching from a front row baseline seat, the younger O’Neal scored 9 points and 7 rebounds.

“Shareef brings a lot to table,” said senior starting point guard Pinson, a Missouri transfer who had 10 points against his old team. “He’s aggressive at the rim rebounding. Anytime we can get him a few minutes, it’s big for us.”

Missouri (10-19, 4-12), which lost its fifth straight game, was led by guard Javon Pickett with 14 points and 7 assists. Mizzou trailed by 10 points twice in the first half but seemed in definite striking distance trailing by 6 points at the break. Then, it quickly melted under LSU’s defensive pressure once the second half tipped off.

“I think the first two points were DaJuan (Gordon) gambled on a pass and they got a layup,” Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin said. “I think in the second possession, Kobe (Brown) gave an offensive rebound up. The third one might’ve been (LSU’s Darius) Days on the drive. I’m not sure what it went to before we scored. It just kind of spiraled from there.”

And in the process, LSU may have re-discovered its early season magic.

“We had a clearly defined identity at the beginning of the year with hard defensive pressure using our defense to turn into offense,” Wade said. “For the last month or so, we hadn’t had an identity.

“We played a little bit more (vs. Missouri) like we did earlier in the year. We played better complementary basketball. Our offense helped our defense out.”

LSU finishes the regular season with games at Arkansas on Wednesday and home Saturday vs. Alabama. The Tigers have no chance to get one of the four byes for the SEC tournament which starts March 9 in Tampa.

But Wade does think his team now has something to play for before the NCAA tourney bracket is announced.

“We pretty much clinched an NCAA berth tonight,” Wade said. “We’re playing for seeding at this point from here on out.”