LSU's losing streak dies at 14, Tigers beat Vanderbilt
They played with passion. They guarded the ball from start to finish no matter where it was on the court. They had prolonged cold shooting streaks. They were relentless rebounders.
LSU erased all the things Wednesday plaguing the Tigers in their 14-game losing streak that ended with an 84-77 SEC victory over Vanderbilt in the Pete Maravich Center.
Tigers' forward KJ Williams scored a game-high 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to give LSU (13-15 overall, 2-13 SEC) its first win since opening league play on Dec. 28 with a 60-57 victory over Arkansas.
"We took to heart the energy and the preparation from these last two days," said Williams, who hit 13 of 25 field goal attempts including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. "We came out with the mindset that no matter what, we were gonna get this win."
Williams practically willed his team to victory after Vanderbilt (15-13, 8-7 SEC) erased LSU's 39-32 halftime advantage to take a 1-point lead. In a 12½-minute stretch of the second half, he scored 21 points of LSU's 30 points and ended his night with an NBA-length 3-pointer with 56 seconds left for an 80-73 lead just before the clock shot expired.
"He (Williams) hit one, it was far out and I was like ‘Yeah this man is going crazy,' "said LSU guard Adam Miller, who finished with 18 points including four free throws in the last 35 seconds to seal the win. "When you talk about 4’s and 5’s that can shoot the ball, he’s one of the best out there. He got hot … and it was just fun because we got a win and he carried us.”
LSU first-year coach Matt McMahon said he didn't talk much to his team about the losing streak, which ended one loss shy of the school record of 15 set in 2016-17. He knew it was there and understood what his team had to do get its first win of the calendar year.
"I loved the process we went through these last 48 hours," McMahon said. "I thought the preparation was really good. Our guys played with great energy. I really felt like we had a team out there tonight and it was a lot of fun to watch. The guys were really locked in to do the things we needed to do to have success."
LSU, which has taken away chances at victory by many times in its SEC failures with a string of 10 straight missed shots or having no energy on defense, filled in those gaps against the Commodores.
For the first time since the Tigers' SEC-opening win over Arkansas, LSU outshot an opponent from the field. The Tigers finished at 45 percent (27 of 60) to Vandy's 44.1 percent (26 of 59).
A 13-0 LSU first half run gave the Tigers their first double-digit lead since the second half of a Dec. 21 home win over East Tennessee State.
After both teams combined to attempt 30 3-pointers in the first half (Vanderbilt 17, LSU 13), both teams put the onus on the officiating crew to whistle fouls in the second half when the Commodores and the Tigers started to drive to basket as much as possible.
It took Vanderbilt the first 7:18 after halftime to finally erase LSU’s lead on a Liam Robbins layup for a 47-46 Vandy edge.
But a baseline jumper 30 seconds later by LSU's Miller regained the lead for good with 12:12 left.
The Tigers’ offense played with increased confidence when Robbins, the Commodores’ 7-foot senior center, got his fourth foul and went to the bench.
Robbins, who finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocked shots, sat for three minutes when LSU extended its lead from 62-58 with 7:32 left to 72-63 when he re-entered the game with 4:32 left.
Vanderbilt fought to the end. The Commodores hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final 1:16. But Williams' 3-point dagger with just under a minute left doomed Vandy, causing Commodores' coach Jerry Stackhouse to tip his hat afterwards.
"We just ran into a guy that was special tonight (Williams)," said Stackhouse, whose team had a 5-game winning streak snapped.