Two freshman — forward Naz Reid and guard Ja’Vonte Smart — put up 16 points in LSU’s win Sunday afternoon to stay undefeated at home.
Four Tigers were in double digits as LSU dominated Incarnate Word, including junior Skylar Mays with 13 and senior Kavell Bigby-Williams with 14. 
“We’ll take it,” said coach Will Wade. “We did a good job on the glass. Didn’t give up any offensive rebounds in the first half. We’re still turning the ball over too much, but I thought our overall defense has improved.”
“Overall we’ve got a lot of room to improve, but it was a good win coming out of exams.”
LSU out-rebounded Incarnate Word 43-20 and 13-4 on the offensive side of the ball. 
Reid had a big day on the offensive side of the ball, after some struggles in past games. He put up 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting and added seven rebounds and three assists. 
“I think Naz has been playing well,” Wade said. “He takes good shots for the most part, they just weren’t going in. Today they went in. I think he’s been doing a good job.”
Two early turnovers on bad passes by sophomore guard Tremont Waters hurt LSU, but he hit a catch-and-shoot three soon after to put the Tigers up 7-0 with 17:34 left in the half. 
In the absence of freshman forward Emmitt Williams, freshman Darius Days got his second start of the season, totaling 9 points and 8 rebounds on the day. 
“He was great,” Wade said. “He does everything we ask him to do except he fouled too much today. He plays extremely hard, gets on the glass, makes winning plays and does a great job. 
Despite some trouble with Incarnate Word’s zone defense, the Tigers maintained a steady lead throughout most of the first half. 
LSU struggled getting the ball inside, until Reid assisted Bigby-Williams under the goal as Bigby-Williams slammed the ball to give LSU a 20-11 lead. 
Late in the first half, LSU struggled on the defensive end and allowed Incarnate Word to stick around, as the Cardinals cut LSU’s lead to as many low as 2 points late in the half.  
The Tigers started to pull away toward the end of the half, led by Mays scoring seven straight LSU points before an official timeout to put them up 42-27 with 2:50 remaining. 
Mays had 8 points and Smart had 9 points during LSU’s 17-2 run to end the first half. The Tigers lead 51-29 at the half.
“I was really proud of Skylar and Ja’Vonte,” Wade said. “I thought they carried us in the first half.”
LSU came out in the second half with the same energy that they ended the first with, as they Tigers limited Incarnate Word to just 8 points in the first eight minutes. 
In that time, LSU put up 17 points, lead by Reid with 6 of his own. 
A Bigby-Williams dunk late in the game gave LSU an 86-45 leads, its largest of the game.
LSU travels to Houston Wednesday for its first true road test of the season. 
“We’ll learn if we can compete in a high pressure, high stakes game,” Wade said. “They’re as physical a team as we’ll play all season long. It’s going to be a huge test on the back board, a huge test of our toughness and our three-point defense.”