JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s been two weeks since LSU’s basketball world got flipped upside down with head coach Will Wade being indefinitely suspended by the school administration.

The remaining coaching staff, led by interim Tony Benford, have done their best to put their heads together to keep the Southeastern Conference regular season champions moving forward.

The Tigers are 2-1 without Wade, who remains sidelined in seclusion because of his refusal to meet with LSU athletic director Joe Alleva about his alleged involvement in a federally investigated college basketball recruiting scandal.

It certainly hasn’t been smooth sailing without Wade. But with LSU playing Maryland here Saturday at 11:10 a.m. CT in an NCAA tournament East Region second round game, the Tigers’ best chance to advance to the Sweet 16 is a full 40-minute contribution from new “assistant” coach Tremont Waters.

Waters, LSU’s first-team 5-11 All-SEC point guard, seemingly has taken on more play-calling duties though he claims it’s something Wade previously allowed him to do.

“Coach Benford and the coaching staff are giving us plays to run and just basically on the fly, either I'll call the play or Skylar (Mays) will call a set just based on what we see,” said Waters, who’s averaging team-highs of 15.1 points, 5.9 assists and 3 steals. “It's just a read that we make pretty much throughout the game, and if things break down, Coach Benford calls a play.

“We've pretty much done that all year. As long as we keep winning, it's definitely working.”

Benford clearly has given Waters the keys to the Tigers’ offense, trusting him to take the team as far as possible in the NCAA tourney.

“As a coach, sometimes you get in your players' way,” Benford said. “You've got to trust him (Waters) because he can go make plays. Sometimes he throws the ball somewhere you didn't want it to go. But he's going to be aggressive and he's going to make the right decision the majority of the time, so he makes it a lot easier.”

For the third-seeded 27-6 Tigers to beat the sixth-seeded 23-10 Terrapins, Waters has to keep his foot on the gas from start to finish.

Sometimes, like in LSU’s 79-74 first-round win over No. 14 seed Yale on Thursday, Waters has a tendency to pull back the throttle after his dazzling ballhandling and unstoppable penetrations have opponents on the ropes.

Waters was blowing and going in the first half vs. the Bulldogs when he had 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and six assists to push LSU to a 45-29 lead at the break.

In the second half, he missed nine shots, scored but two points on a pair of free throws and added just one more assist.

When he downshifted his fast break forays, the Tigers’ offense stagnated.

“We kind of slowed down in transition, and I feel like that was our biggest letdown,” Waters said. “I wasn't pushing the ball as much as I should have in the second half, and I feel like shots just weren't falling.”

Benford said he and the rest of the coaching staff have told Waters to stay aggressive from the opening tip to the final horn.

“He was a little bit passive in the second half,” Benford said. “We want him to stay in that attack mode. We may try to run some different plays for him to try to get him going.”

There’s the feeling that if the front lines of LSU’s 6-10 Naz Reid and 6-11 Kavell Bigby-Williams as well as Maryland’s 6-10 Bruno Fernando and 6-10 Josh Smith cancel out each other, then the ability of the point guards to get teammates involved might be the difference.

Anthony Cowan, Maryland’s All-Big Ten second team point guard who averages 15.8 points and 4.4 assists, understands he has his hands full facing Waters.

“Everybody in the Big Ten has big point guards and guys his size in the Big Ten aren’t as quick,” Cowan said of Waters. “He’s super quick. He’s going to be a tough matchup."

Reid feels the same way about he and Bigby-Williams facing Fernando, a first-team All-Big honoree who’s averaging 13.7 points and 10.5 rebounds, and Smith who’s averaging 11.6 points and 6.8 rebounds.

In the Terps’ 79-77 first-round win over Belmont, both Fernando (14 points, 13 rebounds) and Smith (19 points, 12 rebounds) had double-doubles.

“We have definitely talked about it a lot,” said Reid of conversations with Bigby-Williams about the awaiting challenge. “It’s going to be a good battle. It’s not going to be easy.”