With the LSU men’s basketball team reeling during the last month, it needed any help it could get.
Alabama was happy to comply.
The Crimson Tide already came into the PMAC on Saturday without suspended junior forward Tony Mitchell before it suspended three more starters — senior forward JaMychal Green, sophomore guard Trevor Releford and junior guard Andrew Steele — for “violation of team rules” just hours before tip-off.
The Tigers (14-10, 4-6 Southeastern Conference) took full advantage, muscling through an outmatched ‘Bama squad in the paint to score a crucial 67-58 victory.
Senior center Justin Hamilton’s 21 points and freshman forward Johnny O’Bryant III’s 17-point, nine-rebound night helped LSU run its SEC home record to 4-1.
“That’s a good win for us,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “Any win that we can get this time of year or throughout the year is a good win. It’s not about who they didn’t have, it’s always going to be about our approach. You respect your opponent, and shame on you if you treat somebody different than who you might think is the best player.”
Without the suspended quartet, Alabama (16-8, 5-5 SEC) was missing 68.8 percent of its scoring, forcing four freshmen to make their first career start.
The Tigers used the Tide’s inexperience and offensive depletion to roar out of the opening gate, exploding to a 7-0 lead through two minutes and stretching their advantage to 31-15 by halftime.
But LSU has rarely notched easy wins this season, and Alabama freshman guard Rodney Cooper ensured that Saturday wouldn’t be different.
Cooper, who was just 3-of-10 in the first half, led a 12-0 ‘Bama run to open the second half, scoring 10 straight points off two 3-pointers, an acrobatic lay-up and a tough put-back.
The lanky guard was 7-of-9 from the field in the second half and finished with a game and career-high 28 points.
Cooper’s heroics helped the Crimson Tide eventually cut LSU’s 16-point advantage to three, 42-39, at the 11:25 mark.
“They made that punch to start the second half,” said LSU freshman point guard Anthony Hickey. “We made ours in the first half. We had to make an adjustment.”
That adjustment was as simple as throwing the ball to Hamilton and O’Bryant in the post.
The duo scored 13 of LSU’s next 15 points, as a helpless Tide interior struggled to keep O’Bryant off the offensive glass and prevent Hamilton from establishing position on the block.
“Justin, he does a great job of ducking and sealing his man, so it was just a simple pass to him,” O’Bryant said. “All we had to do was get the ball in the post. He’ll take care of the rest.”
The two low-post stalwarts also controlled the boards, spurring LSU to a 34-27 rebound advantage.
But the youthful Tide still wouldn’t surrender quietly, using some sharp perimeter shooting to slice a comfortable Tigers lead to six points with two minutes remaining.
Then Hickey, held scoreless to that point, drilled a crucial 3-pointer on LSU’s next offensive trip, effectively sealing a win that snapped the Tigers’ five-game losing skid against Alabama.
 
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Contact Chris Abshire at [email protected]