For the first time since 2004, the LSU men’s basketball team defeated Alabama in Tuscaloosa, 72-70, in a crunch-time, gutted-out victory in front of a sold out Coleman Coliseum on Saturday.
Foul trouble again shackled the Tigers (12-7, 5-2 SEC) at times, but, behind freshman forward Ben Simmons, LSU remained in the top three of the SEC standings behind South Carolina and Texas A&M with its second road win of the season.
“It’s a huge win,” LSU coach Johnny Jones said in a postgame interview with ESPN. “It’s a tough place to play. There wasn’t a seat left to sit in the house today. I thought our guys did a great job staying engaged. I hope our team took some steps on growing up today.”
But the end of the first half wasn’t pretty to say the least.
The first half demise began at the 5:05 mark when Simmons — the Tigers leading scorer with 11 points and four rebounds through 15 minutes — was benched for the half with two fouls.
Alabama transformed into a full-court, high-pressure defensive monster without the point-forward in the game, and forced five LSU turnovers in three minutes and 47 seconds.
LSU’s giveaways on three Alabama steals, a shot-clock violation and an errant pass from junior forward Brian Bridgewater led to an 8-0 run by the Crimson Tide. The period ended at 41-36 with Alabama sitting on a confident lead.
Beyond the spurt to regain the lead, Alabama shot 5-for-15 from the 3-point line through 20 minutes and 13-for-30 from the field.
The Tigers came out fiery to start the second half. On the first possession, senior guard Keith Hornsby and sophomore forward Craig Victor II combined for a pick-and-roll, and Victor finished with an uncontested slam. The rest of the half seemed fruitful for LSU.
“Down the stretch, we executed well,” Jones said. “Ben came up big for us. He was challenged inside. Our guys did an excellent job staying engaged and making plays there at the end.”
Simmons led the second half charge against a multitude of Crimson Tide defenders — both small and big —and finished with a team-high 23 points and eight rebounds.
As Victor continued to dig further into foul trouble, eventually fouling out with 1:03 left in the game, Alabama threw a flurry of bigger, stronger post men to defend Simmons. The Tide used guards multiple inches shorter than Simmons to try and slow down the Tigers freshman phenom.
“I just take what they give me,” Simmons said in a postgame interview with ESPN. “If they put a smaller guy on me, I try to post him up. If they put a bigger guy on me, I try to take him to the rim.”
Both teams played most of the second half in a tie, but as the clock drew thin, Tim Quarterman was able to make a layup off an offensive rebound, giving the Tigers a two-point lead they never relinquished.
With 17.1 seconds remaining, Retin Obasohan — Alabama’s senior point guard and leading scorer with 20 points — dribbled around and was forced into a bad shot by Quarterman.
“[Quarterman] came up big there in the first half,” Jones said. “He really set the tone for us. His confidence was high as we started him there in the second half. Late in the game, he was in control. He took care of the basketball. He did a great job getting stops for us as well.”
Quarterman added 11 of his own points, along with Victor. Hornsby finished with 12 of his own, and Antonio Blakeney with 10, as the Tigers shot 49 percent from the field.