After a gut-wrenching loss to No. 1 Oklahoma last weekend, LSU men’s basketball coach Johnny Jones characterized Tuesday night’s game at Auburn as the next “stop” on his team’s “journey.”
To Jones and the road Tigers’ pleasure, the stop in eastern Alabama was mostly smooth sailing for a needed bounce-back performance in Southeastern Conference play.
Freshman forward Ben Simmons dominated from the opening tip, notching 21 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists, as LSU (14-8, 7-2 SEC) cruised to a 80-68 win at Auburn Arena. 
With the win, LSU now has sole possession of second place in the SEC, trailing No. 8 Texas A&M. 
Three didn’t LSU players joined Simmons in double figures, and the team shot a blistering 56.7 percent from the field and 60.7 percent in the second half. Though LSU converted just 3-of-13 3-point attempt, LSU controlled almost every other category, including 43-32 rebounding advantage and a 46-20 advantage in points in the paint.
“A lot of that happens because our post guys did a better job running the floor, posting strong,” Jones said in a postgame radio interview. “Guards did a good job of trying to get it in there. Now, we had 18 turnovers for the game. Those areas we got to make sure we improve. We got some of those late. But, any time our post guys run and we get some paint touches with those guys, great things happen.”
Meanwhile, Auburn (9-12, 3-6 SEC) put up 34 shots from beyond the arc, knocking down just 10 of them, while giving up 21 points off turnovers.
LSU stepped on the gas pedal to begin the second half, strengthening its lead to as many as 21 points by the 7:56 mark of the second half. The Tigers started the period on a 8-2 run, capped on by a dunk from sophomore forward Craig Victor II.
“As we continue to grow, I’m telling these guys we have to go from 10 to 20 after the timeout,” Jones said. “Then, we got to go from 20 to 30 if that’s to be because we got to make sure that we concentrate and be fixed on good defensive stops and really good offensive plays.”
For a six minute stretch of the second half, LSU hit 10 straight shots, as Victor, senior guard Josh Gray and sophomore forward Aaron Epps combined for 18 of the 20 points. Despite the large lead, sophomore starting point guard Tim Quarterman left the game at the 14:10 mark and did not return.
While Simmons wasn’t doing as much scoring in the second half, he provided five of his seven assists in the period, including an around-the-waist pass to Victor to start the run of 10 straight makes. Victor scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime.
Perhaps the most impressive of the second-half performances was Gray’s outing, who scored all 10 of his points in the period. After a combined 1-for-8 clip over the last four games, including seven turnovers, Gray shot 4-of-6 from the field and added two assists and a steal.
Auburn cut the 21-point deficit to as few as 10 points by the 1:25 mark, outscoring LSU, 17-6, during a six and a half minute stretch. But, that was as close as the home Tigers would get, as LSU secured a 12-point win.
“[Auburn] is never out of the game,” Jones said. “They’ve got guys who can really stretch the floor. You got to make sure you crowd, get in their wheelhouse. That’s really important for us. They knocked down some. I thought that’s what got them back in the game.”
After putting up just seven shots against Oklahoma, knocking down six of them, Simmons was a man on a mission in the first half Tuesday. He poured in 17 first-half points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with nine rebounds and two assists.
“I thought [Simmons] got out on the wing, we were able to hit him during our fastbreak, and he was able to attack the lane. As aggressive as he is, he found some angles, got to the rim early, made some big plays, and I thought we were able to put Auburn on its heels.”
Despite nine turnovers in the first period, Simmons and the Tigers were able to stretch their lead to as many as many as 12 points. The double-digit lead was in part due to Auburn’s 5-of-17 clip from 3-point territory, but the road Tigers scored the final five points of the half to cut the lead to seven points.
Along with Simmons, Quarterman provided a balanced first-half performance running the LSU offense, scoring seven points, four rebounds, and three assists. Senior guard Keith Hornsby and sophomore guard Jalyn Patterson chipped in six points apiece in the period.
You can reach James Bewers on Twitter @JamesBewers_TDR