Life on the road in the Southeastern Conference is never easy, and LSU learned that as it beat Georgia 83-79 Saturday night.
It has taken some time getting used to playing with expectations for this LSU team. For once, they came into an opposing arena and were expected to win.
For most of the first half, sophomore guard Tremont Waters carried most of the scoring load by recording 16 points to go along with three assists.
Turnovers were kind of an issue early for the Tigers and a big reason why Georgia stayed in the game. LSU ended the half with eight turnovers, which was the same amount they had in all of the Kentucky game.
LSU handled themselves well in a very packed Stegeman Coliseum and stopped the bulldogs from putting together runs to end the first half leading 41-37.
Georgia was more than ready to start the second half and they did so by shooting the three ball.
The Bulldogs even put together an 8-1 run at the beginning of the half which provided the much needed spark that would set the tone for the rest of the second half.
The scoring burden was lifted off of Waters’ back in the second half as freshman guard Ja’vonte Smart erupted and finished the game with 19 points and played perhaps his best game in a Tigers uniform this season. His play was key to staving off a scrappy Georgia team that would not go away the entire night.
Smart began the season as a starter but he has grown comfortably into his role as a scorer off the bench. Freshman forward Naz Reid helped out as well as he recorded all of his 13 points in the second half.
Points in the paint were a key point of emphasis leading up to the game as coach Will Wade mentioned in his Friday presser that Georgia scored 44 of their points in the paint during the first meeting. LSU was able to limit the Georgia bigs and actually had won the battle in the paint points by a 22-18 margin.
For most of the second half neither team was able to separate themselves and the lead changed hands a couple of times. Georgia played better than their previous 1-10 SEC record shows and even had the game tied at the 7:03 mark at 68-68 with LSU.
That would be the closest they would come as the Tigers were able to control the flow of the second half and fight off one last Georgia push to escape Athens with a four point win and move to 7-0 on the road in conference play.
LSU will play Florida next Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the PMAC on ESPN2.