Coming out of a media timeout five minutes into the game, Vanderbilt dribbled the ball down the court. Forward Matt Freije set up at the top of the key, caught the ball and drained a 3-pointer. The Commodores took an 8-7 lead. Then it started.
A slam dunk by LSU forward Ronald Dupree commenced a 27-0 run, where the Tigers held the Commodores scoreless for nine minutes, 40 seconds.
During that stretch, the Tigers sank five treys — four of those by Collis Temple III.
“When we shoot like that, not many teams can beat us,” Dupree said. “It starts on the defensive end. We created turnovers, and we contested every shot.”
The Tigers suffocating defense forced 13 first half Vanderbilt turnovers. LSU took advantage of those turnovers and made transition baskets on fast breaks.
“That’s about as good of basketball as a team can play,” said LSU head coach John Brady. “Not only when you’re scoring 27 but when they score zero. That means you’re doing a lot of things extraordinarily well.”
The sparse crowd of 4,170 fans awarded the Tigers with a standing ovation during each break in play throughout the 10-minute span.
“I was feeling like everything was going right,” said Torris Bright. “Nothing we did went wrong. We have a great team, and it’s nice to see us play like that.”
Entering Wednesday’s game, LSU ranked eighth in the Southeastern Conference, shooting 33 percent from beyond the arc. But with the help of Temple, who finished the game 5-for-7 from 3-point land and had 19 points, the Tigers shot 52 percent — 80 percent in the first half.
“Our perimeter was able to make shots,” Dupree said. “If they continue to shoot like that, we’ll be in great shape.”
Down 34-8 in the first half and nothing going their way, Vanderbilt forward Corey Smith threw up a five-foot jumper that bounced back-and-forth around the rim for four seconds before falling through the net. That was the first break the Commodores received during the Tigers run.
“We played the way we’re capable of playing,” Temple said. “It all starts with defensive presence, and then we shot extremely well. When you play good defense, you get easy shots.”
Brady was pleased. The LSU players were pleased. But they could not explain why or how they jumped out to a 26-point advantage so quickly.
“Why did it happen?” Brady asked. “That’s one of those questions that is hard to ask. We stayed the course, kept coaching, kept practicing and kept working on those things. [Sooner or later] it’s going to fall, it’s going to work.”