LSU coach John Brady entered his post-game press conference Saturday with what he called his “lucky bean” in tow.
Brady said he was given the bean at Jake’s Barbecue on Nicholson Drive, and was told that with the bean, his LSU Tigers would not lose another game. So far, so good. Brady’s No. 13 Tigers (12-4, 1-1) scratched and clawed their way to a 65-63 win against the University of Auburn (11-7, 1-2) in their Southeastern Conference home opener. The victory extended LSU’s SEC-home winning streak to 18 games. The streak is the longest SEC-home winning streak for the Tigers since the PMAC opened its doors in 1971. In his first start as an LSU Tiger, sophomore transfer Terry Martin led the Tigers in scoring with 23 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Sophomore forward Tasmin Mitchell added 12 points, and junior forward Glen Davis scored 11 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. For Auburn, sophomore Rasheem Barrett led the scoring attack with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting. Sophomore forward Korvotney Barber, who had started every game for the Tigers this season, came off the bench, playing only 10 minutes and was held scoreless by LSU. Brady said based on film and past games against Auburn, the hard-fought game was nothing unexpected. “They have four out of five starters from [last season’s team] back, and we don’t have as much experience returning as they do,” Brady said. “I knew it was going to be a difficult game. I thought we missed several opportunities to expand the lead. We still don’t play make plays well against teams that change their defense a lot. They change their defense every couple of trips down the floor.” In the last meeting between the two SEC-West foes this past February, LSU left Auburn, Ala., with a 65-61 win. Throughout Saturday’s game, Auburn alternated between man-to-man and zone defense, and sophomore guard Garrett Temple said that is one of the reasons Auburn has given the Tigers so much trouble in recent contests. “Their coach does a great job and their defenses change every 10 to 15 seconds,” Temple said. “The 1-3-1 defense caused us trouble at [University of] West Virginia. It’s a defense that you don’t see often.” Auburn jumped out to a 7-0 lead to begin the game which was followed by a quick 6-0 LSU run that cut the lead to one. Things looked grim for LSU when Mitchell picked up his third personal foul 5:52 into the game.
A Mitchell free throw with 12:22 remaining in the first half gave the Tigers their first lead of the game, 17-16, but a 9-0 Auburn run pushed the lead back to six.
LSU trailed 32-28 at halftime but ended the half on a 9-2 run in the final 3:20, with Auburn’s only scored coming on a layup by junior forward Quan Prowell with :02 seconds left in the half.
Martin scored nine of LSU’s first 11 points to begin the second half, and a layup by Temple tied the score at 41-41. LSU stayed ahead for most of the remainder of the contest, building its largest lead of five with a Mitchell free throw with 6:24 left in the game. A 3-pointer from Barrett cut LSU’s lead to one point with 25 seconds remaining, but Martin converted the front end of a 1-and-1 free throw situation to seal the win. Free throws kept Auburn within striking distance for most of the second half.
The Tigers entered the game last in the SEC in free throw percentage, connecting on only 57.4 percent of their foul shots this season, but the Tigers went 14-of-16 from the free throw line Saturday.
LSU finished the game shooting 41.1 percent from the field, while Auburn hit 39.3 percent of its shots.
Davis said perimeter players knocking down shots when they were needed the most was the key to success.” “[We’re] really lucky to come out with a win,” Davis said. “[I’m] just glad we got guys like Terry Martin and Garrett who hit some shots today and got the W.”
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