Going into Tuesday night’s nationally televised game against No. 5 Florida, Gators senior guard Brett Nelson was shooting 25 percent from the 3-point line, making only 21-of-82 attempts on the season.
Nelson, a career 42.7 percent 3-point shooter, was just waiting to burst out of his slump.
“Obviously, I would like to shoot the ball better,” Nelson said after the game.
Unfortunately for LSU, he did just that in the PMAC.
Nelson hit 7 of his 11 3-point shots to catapult the Gators to a 70-53 victory before 8,970 fans in the PMAC. It was LSU’s (12-6, 1-5 Southeastern Conference) fourth-straight SEC loss and the Gators (17-2, 6-0 SEC) 13th-straight win.
“Brett Nelson is 26 percent from the 3-point line coming into our game,” said LSU head coach John Brady. “He goes 7-for-11 against us. He is a player that made some plays for [Florida] when they needed him to, and made some really good shots, I thought.”
The senior guard hit three of his trifecta in the first half and then stymied any hope of a Tiger comeback in the second half when he made four threes in a matter of eight minutes, including one when the Tigers had pulled to within five points with 12:52 remaining.
      “In the second half, I felt pretty good there,” Nelson said. “I hit a couple wide-open ones and after you can hit a couple wide-open ones, you can hit some more.”
Brady’s game plan was to stop the Gators senior forward Matt Bonner, who was averaging 14.9 points per game and was the focal point on the Florida offense.
After Bonner picked up his second foul just 5:17 into the game and senior point guard Justin Hamilton also got whistled for a second foul just 27 seconds later, Nelson knew he would have to step up.
“Not only did we miss those guys scoring and that stuff, but those guys are good leaders,” Nelson said. “A lot of the times I was out on the floor with four freshman or three freshman and a sophomore, and those guys look up to me. I had to get them in the right spots.”
Bonner and Hamilton were held to three and four points, respectively.
But LSU seniors Ronald Dupree and Collis Temple III were the Tigers only consistent scoring threats, as they compiled 20 and 21 points, respectively.
The rest of the Tigers were only able to shoot 4-for-31 from the field for a 13 percent shooting clip.
“The thing that has plagued us the last three of four games is the inconsistency of offense,” Brady said. “From the guys that score and don’t score, we are missing some pretty decent shots. I don’t fault our team for its effort, and I don’t fault it for some of its execution. They didn’t score off their post, they scored off the 3-point line, and we weren’t able to.”
LSU shot a dismal 5-of-27 from behind the line.
The game looked bright in the beginning, with Temple hitting a 3-pointer to open and Dupree following with two dunks. But with LSU leading 9-4 with 15:23 remaining, the offensive wheels came off.
Then the Gators went on a 20-3 run with the Tigers only able to muster one Antonio Hudson 3-point shot. That ended with 5:25 remaining when Temple knocked down a trifecta.
At the half, the Gators led 33-21.
LSU came out inspired in the second half, fighting all the way back to 41-36. But Nelson’s three put an end to any comeback attempt, as the Gators outscored the Tigers by nine from that point on.