LSU’s men’s basketball team faces its toughest competition of the season Saturday against Texas A&M, a team already with eight wins this season and non-conference victories against Arizona and Alabama.And for most of Wednesday night, it seemed the Tigers were looking ahead to their first road contest of the season, trailing by as many as seven points and committing seven turnovers in the first half.But the Tigers bounced back late in the second half and kept their winning streak against in-state opponents alive with a 68-56 win against Nicholls State.The victory extended LSU’s 20-year win streak against in-state opponents to 71 games.”That was good. Just like I thought, just what the doctor ordered,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “Close game. They tested us defensively. They tested our patience.”Johnson said he thought Saturday’s matchup against the Aggies was in the back of his players’ minds early in the game.”Regardless of what they say, as much as you guys ask about A&M … they were thinking it. I’ve got to believe they were looking through to Saturday,” Johnson said. “But … after the first 10 minutes it was like ‘Whoa, here you go. They’ve come to play.'”The Tigers entered Wednesday No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense, but the Colonels’ Princeton-style motion offense helped Nicholls State shoot 50 percent from the field and from behind the arc in the first half. But LSU’s defense held them to 33 percent shooting in the second half.The score was tied at 14 going into the official’s timeout with 7:52 left in the first half, but the Colonels hit four 3-pointers in a 4:48 span to give them their biggest lead of the half, 26-19.LSU responded on the next possession with a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Bo Spencer, and two Quintin Thornton free throws cut the lead to two points. But Nicholls State kept the Tigers at bay and took a 30-27 lead into halftime.Johnson said the Colonels’ physicality surprised him in the first half.”When they got physical with us early on in the game, we stopped screening, we stopped playing together so to speak,” he said. “Halftime, the only adjustment we made was I said, ‘We’re going to have to get back to execution. You’re going to have to be strong … just slow yourself down.”It was LSU that got physical after halftime, punching the ball inside more to junior forward Tasmin Mitchell. The junior had 3 points and 3 rebounds in the first half but finished the game with teams highs of 19 points and 10 boards.”That’s always our look — inside out,” said Mitchell, whose final basket made him the 37th LSU player to score 1,000 career points. “They were really colllapsing in the post in the first half. The second half, we were determined to get it in, play inside out.”There were four ties in the second half before LSU’s 6-0 run gave the Tigers a 55-49 advantage with 6:04 left — a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.Senior guard Marcus Thornton scored 17 points, and sophomore guard Bo Spencer’s 17 points were his most since his put up 21 in the season opener against Jackson State.Spencer injured his shoulder late in the game, but Johnson said he doesn’t expect him to miss Saturday’s game.After a game in which LSU trailed at halftime for the first time this season, the Tigers can now turn their full attention to Texas A&M, which beat LSU, 79-53, last season.Marcus Thornton joked that he still has flashbacks about the 26-point loss, but he predicted this year’s contest will end a bit differently.”We’re going to win the game,” he said.Mitchell’s reply to Thornton’s statement?”Different team this year, baby.”