In a tough season fraught with disappointment, LSU played one of its best first halves of the year Wednesday night in Nashville.

And then, the 14th seed Tigers made sure the first 20 minutes of their SEC tournament first round game vs.11th seed Georgia wasn’t wasted as they held on for a 72-67 victory.

“It's been a big time struggle these last couple of months but proud of our guys and they kept fighting and tonight,” LSU first-year head coach Matt McMahon said. “We really did a great job of taking care of the basketball. And when we've done that it's given us a chance to win.”

The most unlikely of heroes – LSU 7-foot true freshman center Shawn Phillips Jr. – advanced the Tigers (14-18) to a Thursday 8:30 p.m. second round matchup vs. No. 6 seed Vanderbiit.

Without injured starting forward Derek Fountain who hurt a shoulder in practice Monday, Phillips came off the bench to score 13 points and grab 10 rebounds in 25 minutes of playing time.

After LSU built a 42-30 halftime lead on the strength of 16 second-chance points, the Bulldogs (16-16) came back and led 61-59 with 3:15 left.

Phillips scored four of LSU’s last seven points, including slamming home a Trae Hannibal miss for a 69-67 Tigers’ lead with 1:09 left.

Then on the defensive end, Phillips blocked a jump hook by Georgia’s Braelen Bridges with 54 seconds left and then forced Bridges four seconds later to shoot the ball off the bottom of the backboard and out of bounds.

That left LSU senior forward KJ Williams to clinch the win with 22 seconds left with a spinning jump hook for a four-point lead.

Williams scored a game-high 18 points. Hannibal had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds and Adam Miller scored 10 including a 3-pointer and a free throw for a 63-61 Tigers’ edge with 3:02 left.

Georgia had five players in double figures led by Bridges and Justin Hill with 13 points each.

Despite shooting just 31 percent from the field in the second half (including 1 of 7 3-pointers), LSU was able to survive by outscoring Georgia 25-4 in second chance points.

More importantly, after the Tigers their last two regular season games blowing double-digit leads at Florida on Saturday and vs. Missouri last when LSU was outscored 33 to 6 in points off turnovers, LSU had just five turnovers vs. Georgia. The Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 9 to 6 in points off turnovers.

LSU now plays Vanderbilt (18-13), winners of eight of its last nine games. The Commodores' only loss in that stretch was an 84-77 defeat at LSU on Feb. 22 when the Tigers broke a 14-game losing streak.